Google Photos At 10: Billions Of Memories, Smarter Editing, And Easy QR Sharing

Google Photos has been around longer than you probably think. It’s been a decade since the Mountain View giant announced a service that became one of its most important. Since then, it’s evolved from a “simple” cloud service for stashing your photos to an AI-powered storage keeper that makes our photo management and sharing easier and more intuitive than ever. As you can imagine, Google is taking Photos’ 10th anniversary seriously and is celebrating in style.

To celebrate this milestone, Google is rolling out some neat updates. They also shared a few insider tips to help us get even more out of our ever-growing digital archives.

Some Google Photos impressive stats from the last decade

Let’s start with the sheer scale of it all. Google Photos has become a colossal repository of human experience. More than 1.5 billion people now use Google Photos every single month. This translates into an even more mind-boggling volume of content: over 9 trillion total photos and videos stored. We’re talking about a digital library of human history, one snapshot, one video at a time. And we’re actively engaging with it, too, performing over 370 million searches each month, sharing more than 440 million memories, and getting creative with over 210 million photos edited every single month.  These aren’t just big numbers. They also speak to the deep integration of Google Photos into our daily lives.

Google Photos’ improvements to celebrate its 10th anniversary

So, how is Google celebrating this big birthday? With even more options to save and edit your precious moments.

A Smarter, Redesigned Editor: AI at Your Fingertips

Perhaps the most exciting news for anyone who loves to tweak their photos is the redesigned editor. Google Photos has always aimed to make complex editing accessible, and this update takes it to the next level. Imagine having a personal AI assistant for your photos. The new editor offers AI-powered suggestions that intelligently combine multiple effects, giving you quick, tailored options for a polished look.

Want to brighten a specific face or enhance the color of the sky? You can now tap specific parts of an image on the app to receive suggested tools relevant to that area. This makes precise edits incredibly intuitive.

Those who love advanced capabilities seen on the latest Pixel phones are also in luck. Popular tools like Reimagine and Auto frame (first launched in Magic Editor for Pixel 9) are now expanding to many more devices. These powerful features will sit right alongside your familiar brightness and contrast controls, blending advanced AI with everyday adjustments. The redesigned editor will begin rolling out globally to Android devices next month, with iOS users seeing it later this year.

Sharing Just Got Simpler: QR Codes for Albums

Google Photos is making sharing memories even easier and effortless thanks to QR codes. Starting to roll out now, you can generate a unique QR code for any album. This is great for group events or when you’re with people nearby. Simply display the code, and anyone can scan it with their phone to instantly view or even add photos to the album. No more fumbling with links, email addresses, or phone numbers. All you need is a quick scan and everyone’s connected to the shared memories.

Beyond the New Features: Pro Tips for Getting More from Google Photos

To round out the birthday celebration, Google is also sharing some handy tips and tricks that you might not be fully utilizing.

First, did you know that you can revisit your journeys: Under the “Collections” tab, a quick tap on “Places” lets you relive all your travels. Photos are geographically pinned on an interactive map, offering a unique trip down memory lane.

Google Photos’ search engine is now much more powerful. Gone are the days of needing exact keywords. You can ask for something as specific as “me in a sparkly blue dress” or “Alice at the beach.” For the best results, remember to name faces in your “People & Pets” section.

The service is also capable of automatically crafting “Best of Month” and “Year End Recap” memories. This feature provides a delightful dose of nostalgia perfect for sharing with friends and family.

Google Photos users can also easily create personal montages. With a simple tap on the “+” button, you can select “highlight video” and choose photos of people, pets, events, or places. Photos will automatically weave them into a short video with music, ready to share.

Easily share your memories; declutte your main feed

Sharing has become a pretty important part of Google Photos. The platform. Did you know you can set up shared albums to automatically add new photos of specific people or pets? These updates can even roll into your photo frames, making it effortless to share moments with distant loved ones.

A while ago, Google Photos also got a long-awaited option: declutter your main feed. If your main gallery feels overwhelming, tap the three-dot icon to use grid controls. You can stack similar pictures, or hide screenshots, GIFs, and memes for a cleaner view.

You can also Take control of what appears in your Google Photos memories. You can hide specific people, pets, or dates, and choose between time-based or themed memories in Settings > Preferences > Memories.

Lastly, Google Photos is a valuable tool to free up valuable internal storage on your phone. Just tap your profile picture, then “Free up space on this device” to remove photos already backed up to your account, without losing access to them in the cloud.