I think all photos with reduced quality are grandfathered.

I'm pretty sure they changed that just recently.

https://blog.google/products/photos/storage-changes/

> Starting June 1, 2021, any new photos and videos you upload will count toward the free 15 GB of storage that comes with every Google Account or the additional storage you’ve purchased as a Google One member.

> Any photos or videos you’ve uploaded in High quality before June 1, 2021 will not count toward your 15GB of free storage. This means that photos and videos backed up before June 1, 2021 will still be considered free and exempt from the storage limit.

Maybe we understand the word differently, but to me that says that (existing) high-quality photos are indeed grandfathered (they will not suddenly start using your quota), just not new ones you upload after June.

Correct.

Reading further up this comment chain:

"I think he means that uploads beyond your free Google storage are not free anymore, not even for Pixel users."

Future photos, after June, will not be "grandfathered". Only existing ones are. This is the part of the service that has been canceled.

Great, way to screw your users and strongarm them into paying for storage. I'm salty.