A small change found in the recent Google Photos Android app shows that Google is experimenting with a new way to change how photos are deleted or potentially recovered.
According to a new report from PuinikaWeb, code within version 6.79.0.624777117 of the app references a new “configurable” trash feature (or ‘bin’ depending on your language selection).
Currently, when you delete a photo or video from Google Photos, it isn’t actually deleted right there and then. Instead it is moved to the trash, where it will remain for 60 days before it is permanently expunged. You can retrieve your images at any time during those 60 days, and return them to your library, but you can’t extend or reduce the 60-day period.
Now, it appears that Google is considering letting users do just that by making the hard-coded 60-day value configurable. There’s currently no information on the upper or lower limits for this setting but it makes sense that some users may want a longer or shorter grace period within which to retrieve their ‘deleted’ images.
Text strings found within the app code include:
- “Photos_trash_ui_empty_state_caption_configurable”
and
- “Items in the trash are deleted after # days”
Previous versions of the app did not contain the word “configurable.” Furthermore, the“#” character in this case denotes a value that can be changed while the app is running. This value was previously fixed at 60.
Why Extend The Trash Retention Time?
Extending this time period beyond 60 days would make it easier to retrieve accidentally-deleted items, but there’s a good argument for making the time period shorter for privacy reasons. Changing it to one day, for example, would allow you to do a quick ‘undo’ if you delete an image in error, but wouldn’t leave your trash full of potentially sensitive images that hackers or other unscrupulous individuals might attempt to access.
On the other hand, the grace period may not be made user-configurable at all—with the setting made available only to Google according to other, undisclosed parameters. Other recent Google Photos reports reveal a possible option to hide screenshots automatically and a new mobile-based storage management tool.
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