How to Save the Original of a Photo Shared as a Link

Someone sent you a Google Photos link, the photo opens fine, but Save gives you a smaller copy or nothing at all. The link does not point at the sender's camera roll. It points at the version they uploaded to Google, and Save or Download hands you exactly that version, no larger and no smaller.

Open the link and select the photo

Open the link in a browser or in the Google Photos app. If the link is a shared album, tap the photo you want so it opens on its own rather than in the grid.

Download it on the web

On photos.google.com, click the three-dot menu in the top right, then Download. The file that lands in your Downloads folder is the full version stored on Google's servers, with the original filename and, usually, the original metadata.

Save it in the app

In the Google Photos app, tap the three-dot menu, then Save. This copies the photo into your own library at the shared quality. If you want the file on the phone itself, open it from your library afterward and choose Download.

Ask the sender for a better version if it is still small

If the downloaded file is clearly compressed, the sender backed it up under Storage saver, and Google no longer holds a bigger copy. Ask them to find the original on their phone and send that file through Google Drive, the Files app, or an email attachment. Photos backed up as Original quality on their side download at full size for you.

Use Download all for iCloud links

An iCloud shared link opens a page with a Download all button in the top right, or a download icon once you select a photo. iCloud links serve the full-resolution files the sender uploaded.

If you are tempted to screenshot it. A screenshot is a picture of your screen, capped at your screen's resolution and stripped of metadata, so it is never the original. Shared links can also be turned off by the sender or expire, after which the page shows an error, so save what you need as soon as you receive it.