Ask Photos Prepares to Archive Photos and Create Calendar Events [APK Teardown]

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What to know
Ask Photos adds task and selection controls
Photo deletion gets review and result messages
Calendar creation comes with permission handling

What to know

Google is preparing Ask Photos to archive, organize, and delete library photos through chat.
Selection controls would let you adjust which photos a task acts on.
Google Photos 8.0.0.1011730683 also includes Ask Photos strings for calendar events and permission prompts.

Ask Photos is preparing to handle more of the work that comes after finding your pictures. We found new strings in Google Photos 8.0.0.1011730683 for archiving, album actions, photo deletion, and calendar event creation within its chat.

The broader assistant is already public: Google [announced Ask Photos in May 2024](https://blog.google/products-and-platforms/products/photos/ask-photos-google-io-2024/). The discovery here is the expanded set of task controls attached to Ask Photos. Public availability of these specific actions remains unconfirmed.

About APK teardowns — An APK teardown examines an app’s code and resources for features still in development. These clues reveal work in progress, which can change, depend on server-side flags, or be dropped before reaching a public release.

Ask Photos adds task and selection controls

A new input label, “Search or start a task,” makes the direction clear. The accompanying strings include controls to edit a selection or select everything, followed by actions for archiving items and adding them to an album. Album creation also appears among the Ask Photos selection actions.

These labels connect the chat’s task framing with concrete ways to organize your pictures:

photos_ellmann_chat_ui_ask_or_search = "Search or start a task"

photos_ellmann_chat_elicitation_edit_selection = "Edit selection"

photos_ellmann_chat_ui_select_all = "Select all"

photos_ellmann_chat_elicitation_archive_all = "Archive all"

photos_ellmann_chat_elicitation_add_to_album = "Add to album"

photos_ellmann_contextual_selection_create_album = "Create an album"

Photo deletion gets review and result messages

The deletion-related strings include a review label, a bulk delete action, and a receipt reporting how many photos were deleted out of the total. Another message directs you to Trash afterward. The receipt explicitly counts deleted photos, tying this task to your library.

The deletion messages spell out both the action and its reported outcome:

photos_ellmann_chat_turn_tool_movetotrash_review = "Review"

photos_ellmann_chat_turn_tool_movetotrash_delete = "{count, plural, =1 {Delete} other {Delete all}}"

photos_ellmann_chat_turn_tool_movetotrash_deleted_receipt = "{total, plural, =1 {{count} out of # photo deleted} other {{count} out of # photos deleted}}"

photos_ellmann_chat_turn_tool_movetotrash_view_in_trash = "You can view deleted items in Trash."

Calendar creation comes with permission handling

Ask Photos also gains an “Add to calendar” selection action. Its permission explanation specifically describes creating calendar events using Google Photos and says your default calendar app can be configured in Settings. A separate permission-denied message asks for calendar access.

The calendar text identifies event creation as the purpose of that access:

photos_ellmann_contextual_selection_add_to_calendar = "Add to calendar"

photos_ellmann_chat_turn_tool_calendar_permission_rationale_dialog_title = "Allow Google Photos to access your calendar"

photos_ellmann_chat_turn_tool_calendar_permission_rationale_dialog_description = "This allows you to easily create calendar events using Google Photos. Your default calendar app can be configured in Settings."

photos_ellmann_chat_turn_tool_calendar_permissions_denied_toast = "Calendar permission needed"

Together, these additions would give you more ways to act on pictures within Ask Photos, from organizing a selection into albums to creating a calendar event.

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