What to know:

  • Google Photos is replacing its “Sharing” page with a new “Updates” feed, accessible via a bell icon in the app bar.
  • The Updates feed will chronologically organize all activities, including shared albums, conversations, and memory updates.
  • The feature will roll out to both Android and iOS users over the coming weeks.

Google is improving how users interact with shared content in Google Photos by redesigning its sharing features. The new Updates page serves as a central hub for tracking all photo-related activities and notifications.

According to Google’s support page, this new destination in the Photos app aims to make “catching up on new activity easier than ever” by providing a more accessible interface for managing albums, groups, and conversations. The Updates feed will chronologically organize content into clear time-based categories: today, yesterday, this week, this month, last month, and beyond. Users will see various types of updates, including changes to shared albums, conversation updates, partner sharing activities, memory updates, and storage notifications.

To access shared albums under the new system, users need to navigate to the Collections tab and select Albums, where they can use filters for All, Shared with me, and My albums. The previous Sharing page’s functionality hasn’t been removed but rather reorganized for better accessibility.

A notable interface change is the replacement of the ‘people‘ icon with a notification Bell icon, bringing Google Photos in line with other Google apps like Home, Play Store, and YouTube. 

This bell icon provides quick access to recent sharing updates, conversations, and shared links. 

The “Updates” page is gradually rolling out to all users on the Android and iOS Google Photos apps. If you don’t see it yet, you can check back periodically over the coming weeks as it becomes available.

Nevertheless, “A fresh take on photo sharing that puts all your updates in one convenient spot.”