You can ask Google Photos for photos, information, and assistance with a conversational agent.
You can try a new way to search your photos with Gemini through Ask Photos. This experimental feature from Google Labs won’t always get it right, and may give inaccurate or inappropriate answers that don’t represent Google’s views. When you leave feedback, you can help improve Ask Photos for everyone.
Before you start
To use Ask Photos, you must:
- Be 18 or older
- Be in the United States
- Have your Google Account language set to English (United States)
- Have Face Groups turned on
We’re rolling out Ask Photos to a select group of invited users. These requirements are subject to change. If you’re ineligible for Ask Photos, you can still use classic Search.
Terms of Service
You agree that your use of Ask Photos is subject to the Google Terms of Service and the Generative AI Prohibited Use Policy.
We’re committed to protecting your privacy. Learn how Ask Photos keeps your data private.
Start using Ask Photos
Important: When you opt in to Ask Photos, the Search tab is renamed to Ask. You can still use classic Search. Learn more about searching your photos with classic Search.
Step 1: Opt-in to Ask Photos
Important: At this time, only a select group of invited users can opt-in to Ask Photos.
To start using Ask Photos for the first time:
- On your Android device, open the Google Photos app .
- At the bottom, tap Ask Try now.
- If it isn’t there, you may not yet be eligible for Ask Photos. Learn more about Ask Photos eligibility.
- On the privacy page, tap I agree. Learn more about privacy in Ask Photos.
- If you don’t want to move forward, tap No thanks.
Step 2: Confirm which face group is yours
To use Ask Photos, you must confirm your “me” face group.
- On the onboarding screen, tap a photo of you.
- If you want to change the name of your face group, tap the name.
- Type a new name.
- Tap Continue.
Learn what happens when you confirm your face group.
Step 3: Tell us more about the people in your photos
Important: When you add a name to a face group or edit the name of a face group, the new names are saved to "People & pets in Collections." Learn more about Face Groups.
When you add names and relationships to face groups, you’ll get more helpful and accurate responses from Ask Photos.
- Tap Continue. Google Photos displays the most common faces in your photo library.
- Under a face, type the person or pet’s name.
- If the face group already has a name, you can edit it.
- Under “is your…,” tap the word that describes your relationship with the person or pet, for example, “spouse,” “coworker,” or “friend.”
- If you can’t find the right relationship, tap More options.
- You can also type your own relationship.
- Swipe through the other faces. For all of the faces you want to search for, repeat steps 2 and 3.
- When you’re done, tap:
- Name more people to easily search for others.
- Done to move on. You won’t be able to easily search for faces you haven’t named.
Tip: After onboarding, you can always edit, add, or delete names and relationships to faces from the chat. At the top, tap More Names & relationships.
Use Ask Photos
- On your Android device, open the Google Photos app .
- At the bottom, tap Ask.
- In the text box, enter a question. For example, “Photos of me over time,” “First photo in my library,” or “What are all the cities I visited last year?”
- Wait for Ask Photos to respond. This can take a moment. While Ask Photos searches, you can find the tasks it’s completing in the chat window, like “thinking,” “searching,” “reviewing,” and more.
- The response includes at least one chat message and sometimes includes associated photos. This might include a question for you, like “Want me to narrow it down for you?”
- In the chat, Ask Photos may only display a few photos or albums. To view all of the photos and albums identified by Ask Photos, tap View more.
- You can add more questions, comments, or clarifications in the text box. Ask Photos answers again.
Tip:
- To find the thinking history after Ask Photos answers, tap Show details.
- To get a new answer to your question, tap Refresh .
When you tell Ask Photos information that it could use in the future, it may add this info to the Remember List. When this happens, you’ll find “Added to Remember List” in the chat. You can review and delete items in the Remember List at any time from settings:
- On your Android device, open the Google Photos app .
- At the top, tap your Account profile photo or Initial.
- Tap Photos settings Preferences Gemini features in Photos Remember List.
- Next to the item you want to delete, tap Delete .
This experimental feature from Google Labs won’t always get it right, and may give inaccurate or inappropriate answers that don’t represent Google’s views.
When you leave feedback, it helps improve Ask Photos. After Ask Photos responds, tap Good response or Bad response . You can also leave additional feedback:
- If you choose Good response: To open the feedback window, tap Send feedback.
- If you choose Bad response: The feedback window automatically opens.
You can rate each answer.
Stop using Ask Photos
If you want to stop using Ask Photos, tap Ask Classic Search.
You can also return to Classic search anytime you ask a question. Under the question, tap Use Classic Search to ask the question with the classic experience.
You can return to Ask Photos at any time:
- If you’ve already opted in: Tap Ask Switch to Ask Photos.
- If you haven’t opted in yet: Tap Search Try Ask Photos.
If you’ve opted into Ask Photos, you can turn “Search with Ask Photos” off from settings:
- On your Android device, open the Google Photos app .
- At the top, tap your Account profile photo or Initial.
- Tap Photos settings Preferences Gemini features in Photos.
- Turn off “Search with Ask Photos.”
Humans don’t review Ask Photos responses, unless you give feedback, or in rare cases to address abuse or harm. To help us improve Photos, Ask Photos queries may be reviewed by humans, but we first take steps to protect your privacy. You may turn off query review in settings:
- On your Android device, open the Google Photos app .
- At the top, tap your Account profile photo or Initial.
- Tap Photos settings Preferences Gemini features in Photos Help us improve photos.
- Turn off “Allow us to access your queries.”