Google Photos Memories is finally on the Web
Some might have been living with the presumption that Google's so-called Photos product is simply a mobile gallery app or cloud storage for images. While that's partly correct, Google has also managed to turn into something more, usually with its typical machine learning magic sauce. From social sharing to printed photos, Google has added some value on top of an ordinary photo gallery on the cloud. One feature in particular, however, was oddly limited in its availability, but that changes now that Memories has finally broken out from phones and onto the Web.
Google Photos admittedly means different things to different people, but one of the highlights that separate it from other similar services is its judicious use of machine learning to organize dozens or even hundreds of photos. These include grouping photos into albums based on who's in them or organizing them based on a theme or an event from a specific range of dates. The latter is the foundation of what's being called Google Photos' Memories feature, and it has become a popular way to walk down memory lane.
Although Memories has been around for a few months now, the feature has so far only been accessible on Google Photos' mobile apps. That's a rather strange situation since the mobile app and Web browser version are nearly the same in terms of feature parity. Whatever the reason, Google is finally changing that.
Google Photos on the Web will finally show the carousel of Memories on top of your album, similar to how it works on the mobile app. Going through each memory is practically the same, though you'll have to substitute mouse clicks and cursor keys for swipe gestures. Any adjustment you make to Memories, like blocking certain people or dates, will sync with what you'll see on the mobile app as well.
Starting this week, your Memories will be available at the top of your gallery when you log into Google Photos from your computer, so you can always look back on some of your best photos and recent highlights, no matter what device you're on. pic.twitter.com/aPhns7tlUR
— Google Photos (@googlephotos) October 20, 2021
In typical Google fashion, the feature isn't available yet for all users around the globe and could take some time to roll out to everyone. This incarnation of Google Photos Memories is actually just the latest push from Google to bring that feature front and center. Last July, the Google Photos Android app was spotted gaining a home screen widget for it, while Chrome will soon have a module for displaying Memories right from its New Tab Page.