6 annoying Google Photos features you can turn off
Google Photos is one of my most used apps, but I have to admit that I don’t like everything about it. When an app tries to do as much as Google Photos, there are bound to be things that annoy you. Fortunately, most of these items can simply be turned off.
The features highlighted in this list are for the Google Photos mobile apps on Android and iPhone, not the desktop web app. Some features are exclusive to Android.
Added last year, the “Quick Edit” feature adds an extra step when sharing a photo from the Google Photos app. Google assumes you’ll want to make some edits before sharing. So this takes you to a minimal version of the editing screen when you press the “Share” button. If you’re like me and edit photos Before sharing, it’s an annoying screen to skip every time. Get rid of them by going to Photos Settings > Sharing > Quick Edit before sharing. Just turn it off.
Clutter due to photos from other apps
It’s easy to forget that at its core, Google Photos is just a gallery app. Photos and videos you save on your phone will appear in Google Photos, sometimes in the main timeline. If you want to clean things up, there are two options. First, you can go to Photos settings > Preferences > Photos view and turn off “Show content from other apps” completely. If that’s too extreme, leave it enabled and tap “Customise by app” on the same screen. Select an app and choose how it appears in the timeline (if applicable).
This only applies to Google Pixel phones.
See people in Memories you don’t want to see
A big part of the Google Photos experience is the “Memories,” which are displayed at the top of the main tab. You wouldn’t be alone if you had photos of someone you’d rather not see anymore. The good news is that you can easily prevent people and animals from appearing in Memories. Go to Settings Photos > Preferences > Memories > Hide People & Animals. From there, select people or animals in the “Blocked” section. While you’re at it, you can also choose people and pets to “Show More” or “Show Less.”
How to Backup Your Google Photos Library to a Hard Drive
Google Photos has been my primary method of backing up photos and videos for almost a decade. I recently realized that it would be very bad if something happened to it, so I finally took the time to back up all my photos to an external hard drive as well.
Remembering days you don’t want to relive
If your memories are altered by specific times rather than specific people, you can also hide photos from those dates. Again, go to Photo Settings > Preferences > Memories; This time, select “Hide Dates”. You can choose single dates or large periods, even years. Photos or videos taken on the selected dates and ranges will no longer appear in Memories.
Google Print Services Ads
Google Photos has a built-in printing service, and chances are you’ve heard about it against your will. Frequent discount notifications are sent out in an attempt to sell more photo books and prints. You can find the switch to turn them off in Photo Settings > Notifications. There is a section with three different types of print notifications to disable: “Printing Promotions”, “Printing Drafts”, and “Printing for You”.
Notification options will not appear if notifications are turned off entirely for Google Photos.
Videos play automatically on the timeline
The last point is a small thing, but you might still find it annoying. By default, Google Photos plays animated videos and photos on the timeline as you scroll, just like on Instagram. This can be easily turned off in Photos Settings > Preferences > Photo Grid Playback. Less distracting and you’ll save a bit of mobile data in the process.
Google Photos hasn’t seen as many unwanted AI features and functionality as other Google products, but it’s still quite bulky. The days of it being a basic gallery app are long gone, for better or worse. Take a few minutes to turn off some fluff and you’ll enjoy it even more.
7 Google Photos Features Every User Should Know
Unlike the Gallery app on your smartphone, Google Photos offers a wide range of features, making it one of the best platforms for storing and editing photos and videos. Here I will discuss some of the main features of Google Photos that you should use.
