Key Takeaways
- A new Google Photos feature is in testing that allows users to automatically back up only their “favorite” photos.
- This feature could help you declutter your library and dramatically reduce cloud storage use.
- The update offers a middle ground between backing up everything or nothing, giving users more control over their photo library.
Google is testing a small but much-needed change to Google Photos that could not only help declutter your Google Photos library, but also help you save money on subscription fees.
As spotted by app investigator AssembleDebug for Android Authority, Google Photos is working on a new option that lets you automatically back up only your favorite photos, keeping the remaining pictures on your local device but out of the cloud. With this option selected, all of your favorite images will be safely stored on Google’s servers, and everything else will remain just on your local device until you choose to delete it.
Unfortunately, neither option works well in all scenarios. Here’s a summary of the current backup options and the expected benefits of Google’s new option.
Turn Backup On
If you turn backup on, every photo or video you shoot will be backed up to Google Photos’ servers, keeping them safe but consuming valuable storage space.
Google provides an “undo device backup” feature to remove all backed-up photos and videos from the cloud while keeping them on your local device, but there’s currently no easy way to do this for individual images. This can result in a lot of clutter in your library.
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Leave Backup Off
If you leave backup turned off, Google Photos displays a ‘cloud’ icon at the top of the screen that you can tap when viewing an individual image to back it up.
However, if you do this, Google will nag you occasionally to turn backup on when you open the app. It also forces you to view each picture in turn to back it up.
New! Back Up Just Favorites
According to code found in the latest Google Photos app, a new option is under test that will let you “Automatically back up only your favorites,” and “Keep your favorites safe by automatically backing up photos when you favorite them.”
Details are scarce at the moment, and a few questions remain: Will users still be able to back up individual (non-favorite) photos? Will enabling the feature back up all previously favorited images, or will it only back them up “when you favorite them,” as specified above?
It’s also not clear what happens when you un-favorite a photo that has already been backed up. Will the backup be removed? Will the original remain on your local device?
Google should clarify these points, as Google Photos community support pages show that confused users are still permanently losing photos when trying to clear cloud storage.
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