Amazon is shutting down Amazon Drive at the end of 2023

Amazon customers who use the company's file storage service Amazon Drive are notified by email currently that Amazon will shut down the service at the end of 2023. A similar notification is displayed on the official Amazon Drive website.

In the email, Amazon informs Drive customers that support for uploading new files will be disabled on January 31, 2023. Customers who use Amazon Drive may continue to access files uploaded prior to that date, but the option to add new files or change existing ones is no longer available after January 31, 2023.

Amazon Drive customers have until December 31, 2023 to access their files and download them to their devices. After December 31, 2023, access to Amazon Drive is cut off for all customers.

Amazon suggests that customers keep photos and videos on Amazon Drive, as these are also accessible through Amazon Photos. Unlike Drive, Photos remains an Amazon service. Customers may access all their uploaded images and photos on the Amazon Photos website or in the application.

Customers who delete media on Amazon Drive will no longer have access to these on Amazon Photos, as both access the same storage for photos and videos.

Any files that are not media files will no longer be available after December 31, 2023. Customers are asked to export files to their devices before the shutdown data to avoid losing access to their files.

Amazon suggest that Drive customers use the website to download content, but recommends that customers use the Photos Desktop app to download and save files if downloading files through the web app is not feasible because of size limitations.

The web app supports selecting multiple files and folders for downloading. All it takes is to check folders and files on Amazon Drive and activate the download button to save them to the local system.

Here is the time line for the Drive shutdown:

• October 31, 2022 -- The Amazon Drive app is removed from Google Play and the App Store.
• January 31, 2023 -- Uploads to Drive are disabled.
• December 31, 2023 -- Amazon Drive is no longer accessible.

The applications continue to work, but Amazon won't release updates for the apps anymore. Eventually, these apps will stop working; this may happen prior to the official deprecation date or even earlier.

Amazon explains that it made the decision to deprecate Amazon Drive to "more fully focus" its efforts on Amazon Photos. Customers may access the FAQ that Amazon published to gain further assistance.

Amazon Drive alternatives

As far as Amazon Drive alternatives are concerned, there are plenty free and paid services available. Popular choices include Microsoft OneDrive and Google Drive, which are both free in a base version, but also services such as Dropbox, Proton Drive and plenty of other services.

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