Two ways to print
- 1
Order from Google Photos
Google Photos has its own print store. In the US you can pick prints up the same day at a CVS, Walgreens or Walmart and pay in the store, or have them delivered. Delivery is also available in Canada, the UK and the EU.
- 2
Or download and print anywhere
Open the photo, choose Download from its menu, and you get the copy Google Photos stored. Upload that file to any lab, kiosk or online printer, which is the way to get sizes or papers the print store does not offer.
| How you get them | Sizes (inches) |
|---|---|
| Same-day store pickup (CVS, Walgreens, Walmart) | Sizes (inches): 4×6, 5×7, 8×10 |
| Home delivery | Sizes (inches): 4×6, 5×7, 8×10, 11×14, 12×18, 16×20, 20×30 |
From Google's help pages, October 2026. Store pickup prints are glossy at CVS and Walgreens and matte at Walmart.
Check the backup quality first
Google Photos backs photos up in one of two qualities, chosen in the app’s settings. Original quality keeps the file exactly as your phone took it. Storage saver compresses every photo and shrinks anything over 16 megapixels down to 16. Switching the setting only changes future backups; photos already saved in Storage saver stay that way.
For small prints the difference rarely shows. For an enlargement it does: a 16-megapixel photo (about 3,464 × 4,618) is plenty for pixels, sharp to about 11.5 × 15.3 inches, but the extra compression shows up as smeared fine detail in hair, foliage and fabric. If the original is still on your phone or camera, print from that instead.
Stop the print being cropped
Most phone photos are 3:4. None of the store pickup sizes are: 4×6 is 2:3, 5×7 is 5:7 and 8×10 is 4:5. To fill the paper, the print is cropped, usually off the sides at 4×6 and off the top and bottom at 8×10. Use the crop preview while ordering to choose what goes, or extend the photo to the print’s shape before uploading so nothing has to.
- For a phone photo with people near the edges, resize it to 4×6 without cropping before you order.
- For a print bigger than 8×10, an 18×24 poster matches a phone photo’s shape exactly; see the standard poster sizes.
- Photos that came from someone else, through a shared album or a message, may be much smaller than the original. The Facebook and text message guide shows how big those print.