Amazon Drive will be shutting down by the end of this month

The company announced on July 29, 2022, that Amazon Drive will be shutting down on December 31, 2022, and if you’re already a user, there are other important dates to know as uploads will be cut off sooner.

According to the company, Amazon Drive will no longer be supported after December 31, 2023. That is when access will be completely disabled. Uploads are being phased out and will no longer be accepted after January 31st. Amazon Drive apps for Android and iOS will be taken out of service on October 31, 2022.

“We will continue to provide customers the ability to safely back up, share, and organize photos and videos with Amazon Photos,” Amazon said in an email to customers (full email statement can be found at the end of the article).

However, all files that aren’t images or videos must be downloaded. Amazon recommends using the Amazon Photos desktop app for Windows or macOS to retrieve larger files on its FAQ page.

Amazon’s decision to discontinue Drive after 11 years is explained as follows: “We are taking the opportunity to more fully focus our efforts on Amazon Photos to provide customers a dedicated solution for photos and video storage.”

Maybe Amazon has big plans for competing with Google Photos and Apple‘s iCloud Photo Library. However, the Drive news will undoubtedly disappoint those who have grown accustomed to storing their files on Amazon’s dependable servers.

Amazon Drive is a cloud-based file storage service that has been around for about 11 years as an alternative to Google Drive and Dropbox. It was created to securely store all types of files, including videos, photos, and other files ranging from PDFs to documents.

Access to Amazon Drive has been one of the perks of Amazon Prime membership, with 5GB of free storage included in addition to the other benefits. It’s an alternative to Amazon Photos (aka Prime Photos), which focuses solely on photos and offers unlimited storage via iOS or Android apps.

An email statement from Amazon ⤵️

Dear Amazon Drive Customer,

Over the last 11 years, Amazon Drive has served as a secure cloud storage service for Amazon customers to back up their files. On December 31, 2023, we will no longer support Amazon Drive to more fully focus our efforts on photos and video storage with Amazon Photos. We will continue to provide customers the ability to safely back up, share, and organize photos and videos with Amazon Photos.

What this means for you:

You are receiving this email because you have files stored on Amazon Drive that are not supported by Amazon Photos. On December 31, 2023, you will no longer have access to Amazon Drive. Until then, you can continue to use Amazon Drive to manage your files.

If you rely on Amazon Drive for your file storage, you will need to go to the Amazon Drive website and download your files by December 31, 2023. As an Amazon customer your photo and video files have been automatically saved to Amazon Photos. Step-by-step instructions for downloading your files, managing your paid subscription, and resources for additional help can be found on our FAQ page.

As part of this process, on January 31, 2023, Amazon will no longer support uploading files on the Amazon Drive website. You will still be able to view and download files until December 31, 2023.

You can continue to use Amazon Photos for backing up and storing photo and video files. The Amazon Photos app can be downloaded on iOS, Android, and Desktop. Prime members get free, unlimited full-resolution photo storage and 5 GB video storage. If you are not a Prime member, you get 5 GB of free storage for photos and video.

Thank you for being an Amazon customer.

The Amazon Drive team