Google+ Photos Is Shutting Down On August 1st

Google is offering a tool that’ll transition Google+ Photos users over to Google Photos; you can find it on your Google+ account photos page. Even if you miss the deadline, Google says your photos will still be available by way of Google Takeout.

The shutdown of Google+ Photos will start on August 1. According to Google, the Android version will go first; shortly thereafter, the web and iOS versions will go dark.
So why kill off Google+ Photos? For most, the existence of the standalone Google Photos makes Google+ Photos redundant, and perhaps a bit confusing (Example A: this post.) Alas, there are a few tricks from Google+ Photos that haven’t made it into the non-plus Google Photos app yet — things like pushing pictures to Chromecast, or support for PhotoSphere hosting.

With that said, the standalone Google Photos does bring a lot of rad new stuff to the table, even beyond the whole unlimited free storage thing.