On Wednesday, May 28, 2025, Google marked the 10th anniversary of Google Photos by introducing ten updated tips, tools, and features. These include a redesigned photo editor and a new method for instantly sharing albums using QR codes.
Google Photos Hits 1.5 Billion Monthly Users
Google reported that Google Photos now serves more than 1.5 billion users every month. The platform stores over 9 trillion photos and videos. Monthly activity on Google Photos includes approximately 370 million searches, 440 million shared memories, and 210 million photo edits.
New Features
Redesigned Photo Editor
Google introduced a new photo editor that centralizes all editing tools and uses AI to offer quick effect combinations or tailored suggestions when users select parts of an image.
Features such as Reimagine and Auto Frame, first introduced in Pixel 9’s Magic Editor, are expanding to many Android devices running Android 8 and above. Availability depends on device, region, and account type.
QR Code Album Sharing
Albums can now be shared quickly by generating QR codes, allowing nearby users or event attendees to scan and view or contribute photos.
Tips and Tricks
- Explore Past Travels: The “Places” tab under Collections displays photos pinned on an interactive map, helping users revisit their trips visually.
- Smarter Searches: Google Photos supports detailed search queries like “me in a sparkly blue dress” or “Alice at the beach.” Naming faces in the “People & Pets” section improves search accuracy.
- Monthly and Yearly Recaps: Google Photos automatically creates “Best of Month” and “Year End Recap” albums, allowing users to look back on highlights and share memories with friends and family.
- Create Personal Highlight Videos: By tapping the “+” button and selecting “highlight video,” users can choose people, pets, events, or locations. Google Photos then produces a short video with music, ready to share.
Useful Tools
- Shared Albums for Staying Connected: Shared albums can be set to automatically include new photos of selected people or pets. These updates also appear on connected devices like photo frames, helping families and friends stay in touch.
- Organize Your Gallery: Grid controls let users group similar photos or hide screenshots, GIFs, and memes to reduce clutter.
- Customize Memories: Users can customize which memories appear by adjusting settings under Preferences > Memories, choosing to hide certain people, pets, or time periods.
- Free Up Device Storage: Users can free up phone space by removing items already backed up to Google Photos via the “Free up space” option in their profile menu. These files remain accessible in the app.
Availability
The rollout of instant album sharing via QR codes has begun, with the redesigned photo editor launching on Android devices in June 2025 and iOS updates planned for later this year.
Speaking about the milestone, Shimrit Ben-Yair, Vice President of Google Photos & Google One, said:
With so many memories created over the past ten years, we’re excited to keep advancing what’s possible with AI, opening up new ways for people to relive, connect, and share their memories.