According to a recent report, Google Photos is testing a groundbreaking feature called ‘Memories’ on its home page. This feature has the potential to completely transform the way users interact with the app.
An insider from the widely followed Google News Telegram group, Nail Sadykov, shared details about the new feature, providing screenshots of an updated interface. The interface showcases a fresh addition—a slider located at the bottom of the screen.
By sliding the toggle from ‘All photos’ to ‘Memories,’ users can switch from the conventional timeline-based view to a more innovative approach that organizes photos based on themes and events. For instance, examples given include ‘Trip to Kuluschi’ and ‘Under the Christmas tree,’ with each theme presented as a collage of image thumbnails, creatively arranged in various shapes and sizes. Although titles are automatically generated, users have the option to modify them by tapping the newly introduced ‘Edit’ button located alongside the feed.
The report further states that tapping on a collage will expand it to full-screen mode, similar to the experience of opening a memory from the carousel at the top of the regular feed. Unfortunately, this new feature is currently in the experimental phase, and it remains uncertain when or if it will be rolled out to all users.
If Google does roll out this update, and personally I hope it does, then it will open up a whole new way of using the app. While Google Photos does a good job of surfacing interesting content via the Memories feature, scrolling through the main chronological feed simply gives you every single photo and video you’ve saved. This gets boring very quickly — I don’t imagine many people feel compelled to pick up their phone to scroll back through the Google Photos timeline.
Conversely, a carefully curated feed showcasing only the most captivating images would undoubtedly enhance user engagement, particularly when presented in a format reminiscent of scrolling through social media posts. It’s easy to envision a scenario where future users find themselves immersed in Google Photos, leisurely browsing through their memories during idle moments, which is not as intuitive with the app’s current structure.
At present, all we can do is patiently await Google’s next steps and observe how they develop this concept further.
