Customers still using Amazon Drive are expected to migrate to Amazon Photos and have until December 31, 2023, to save their stored files.
The Amazon Drive service is ending, and customers have to take action to prevent data loss. Amazon will automatically transfer photos and videos to the Amazon Photos service, but other file types must be downloaded manually.
Paying customers are eligible for a refund if they choose to cancel their subscription now. Amazon Photos has paid tiers, but all Amazon customers get 5GB of storage for free.
Amazon doesn't provide a migration tool for files. Instead, users must manually download each file they wish to extract from Amazon Drive before the service is unreachable. This must be done from the website.
The Amazon Drive app will no longer receive updates and will be removed from the iOS and Android app stores on October 31, 2022. On January 31, 2023, Amazon will no longer support uploading files.
Users can view and download their files until December 31, 2023. After that, the files will be unreachable and will be deleted. Amazon urges customers to begin transitioning away from Amazon Drive now.
Amazon Photos can only store photo and video files and have the following storage tiers: 100GB for $1.99 per month, 1TB for $6.99 per month, and 2TB for $11.99 per month. Storage plans go up to 30TB at $1,799.70 per year for those with extensive storage needs.
People looking at different options could choose Apple's iCloud storage options. Those tiers are: 50GB at $0.99 per month, 200GB at $2.99 per month, and 2TB at $9.99 per month. Subscribers to the Apple One subscription bundle can increase their storage to 4TB total for additional fees.
If users don't plan on using Amazon Photos, they can cancel their Amazon Drive subscription now and may get a refund. Just navigate to the plan management page and select "Cancel my plan."
