If your Google Drive upload is too slow, try this

When it comes to the best free cloud storage services, Google Drive is easily one of the best options, and for good reason. It offers more free storage space than many competitors (we’re looking at you, OneDrive and iCloud). It’s also cross-platform, offering app support on Android, Windows, iOS and Mac and web access on any compatible browser.

Google Drive generally works well. But there is one specific problem that users commonly complain about: slow download speeds. If you’re unlucky, it might even take hours to upload your files to the cloud, not just minutes.

Slow uploads to Google Drive can happen for several reasons: it might be a problem with your internet connection, the device you’re using to upload to Google Drive, or Google Drive itself. In this guide, we’ll walk you through what to do to address each of these issues and fix your Google Drive upload speed.

When your Google Drive upload is too slow for your liking, it’s a good idea to inspect your Internet connection first. Start by restarting your router. If you never restart your router, it can eventually slow down your entire home network. After that, open a browser and check the download speed of your home network via speedtest.net. Anything less than 10 Mbps will make your Google Drive upload take longer than expected. In this case, contact your service provider to see if this is a limitation of your plan or an issue on their end.

If the download speed is good, check if anyone in your house is also using the download bandwidth. They don’t necessarily need to download files to affect bandwidth. Video conferencing, playing games, and live streaming can also compete for available capacity.

Another simple solution you can do if you are using a computer is to connect to the Internet via a LAN cable. Wired connection is generally more reliable than Wi-Fi. If you use your phone to upload to Google Drive, you can try turning on mobile data and disconnecting from your Wi-Fi network. Just make sure to turn off “Upload files only over Wi-Fi” in the Google Drive app settings, so you can upload over mobile data.

Sometimes your device plays a role in your Google Drive upload being slow. When you start to notice slower download speeds than usual, cancel the download and restart your phone/computer first. Reboots surprisingly resolve many temporary issues.

From there, check three settings on your phone: VPN, Battery Saver/Low Power Mode, and Data Saver Mode/Low Data. For VPN, check if turning it on or off affects Google Drive download speed. Users reported mixed results with this fix, with some saying that enabling the VPN helped increase their speed, while others reported that turning it off worked better. However, for Battery Saver and Data Saver, it is best to leave them disabled. Battery Saver (on Android) and Low Power Mode (on iPhone) can limit your network connection, among other things, while Data Saver (on Android) and Low Data Mode (on iPhone) limit your mobile data usage, which could affect how quickly Google Drive downloads your files. Both options can be found in your phone’s Settings app.

Besides the device settings, also take a look at your computer’s browser (for computer users). Update the browser to ensure it is running at peak performance. Then clear the cache and cookies. It is recommended to clear your browser cache regularly to have a clean slate and prevent your browser from slowing down. You can also always switch to another browser. If you use Chrome, see if you get better speeds on Microsoft Edge or Firefox. On mobile, clearing the Google Drive app cache can also help improve your download speed. The process is different depending on the manufacturer, but you usually need to go to Settings and find Drive in the Applications section.

One potential reason why your download is too slow is due to Google Drive itself. This may be a temporary problem or Drive may be down. To see if this is the case, go to the Google Workspace status dashboard and verify that Drive is working as expected. If not, wait a few hours before trying to re-upload.

It’s also worth checking if your storage is already full. Since this space is shared across Google services, you may not realize that your Google Photos or Gmail files have already consumed a large portion of your storage space. To check, log in to Google Drive and click Storage on the left side panel. It should not be 100% full. Another thing to check is your daily limit. Google only allows you to download a maximum of 750 GB per day. If you have already done so, any additional files may no longer download.

When using the Google Drive app on your phone or computer, it is recommended to restart the app and update it to the latest version. You can update the Drive mobile app from the Play Store or App Store, while the Drive desktop app usually updates automatically as long as you’re connected to the internet. If the mobile or desktop app still uploads your files to Google Drive too slowly, try using the web version instead. You should have no trouble accessing it from Chrome, Firefox, Microsoft Edge, or Safari. If your Google Drive download speed is still slow after all these fixes, it’s probably just an inherent limitation of the platform. What you can do is upload your files in smaller batches. Maybe group 100 images into batches of 20, or limit files to less than 1 GB per upload.