Google’s latest AI update, Gemini 2.5 Flash, promises speed and efficiency—but free users just ran into a frustrating surprise: file uploads are suddenly gone.
The new Gemini model is still in preview, and many users were excited to test its capabilities. But now, on the free tier, some core tools have quietly vanished. Users on Android and iOS found the “Files” and “Drive” upload options grayed out, while on desktop, only image uploads remain accessible.
Text and document uploads—key for file analysis, summaries, and audio overviews—are no longer available to free users on Gemini 2.5 Flash.
The issue was first reported by 9to5Google and seems to be affecting users who aren’t on the Advanced (paid) plan. Interestingly, uploads still work fine on Gemini 2.0 Flash and Gemini 2.5 Pro (preview)—and even on 2.5 Flash, if you’re paying.
This isn’t the first strange hiccup with Gemini. Last month, some users saw Audio Overview features fail after uploading files, with errors replacing results. The new limitation could be another glitch—or a quiet shift toward locking features behind a paywall.
For now, Google hasn’t confirmed if this is a bug, a test, or a policy change. Either way, it’s a disappointing step back for free users hoping to experiment with AI-powered file tools.
