Amazon Drive cloud storage service shutting down December 31st, 2023

Amazon has announced that it is shutting down its cloud storage service by the end of 2023, notifying customers via email and an FAQ page.

The shutdown for Amazon Drive will be in three stages. The first stage has already happened, with the Amazon Drive app being removed from the Apple App Store and the Google Play Store as of October 31st, 2022. The second stage is on January 31st, 2023, after which new files will no longer be accepted for hosting on the service. Existing files will still be available, however. Amazon then explains that users have until December 31st to download the files they've kept on the service before they are no longer accessible.

Since Amazon Drive and Amazon Photos utilize the same cloud storage, if a user deletes a photo or video from Drive, they will no longer be able to access it on Photos either. Amazon recommends using the Photos desktop app if you have difficulty downloading your data from the web browser app either due to size constraints or other hurtles.

The FAQ states that discontinuing Amazon Drive is in order to "more fully focus" on the development of the Amazon Photos service, which will continue to function fully as of this report.

Further coverage: gHacks Tech News