For the past few years, the Google Photos app has grown into a widely used service across several platforms. Perhaps, its only shortcoming was the way users shared photos with each other as it involved creating a shared album and then dumping all the photos that needed to be shared.

That changes now, as Google has announced a direct private messaging feature that will be built directly into the Google Photos app on Android as well as iOS and Web.

What is the new chat feature

The new chat functionality in Google Photos no longer needs users to create an album to share pictures. If both you and the recipient use the Google Photos app, you can send a message containing a photo or a video, just like you would on any other social platform like Instagram, WhatsApp, etc.

Once a media is shared, you can continue the conversation and turn it into a thread. This means that the photo which was shared at the start becomes a starting point for an ongoing conversation. You can like the photos and videos shared by others, comment on them and also save them to your own library.

Users can start a group chat with as many people as they want and any member inside the group will be able to share photos and videos.  New chats can be created by opening a picture inside the library and tapping the share button.

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How to get the new chat feature in Google Photos

The new chat or private messaging feature will be gradually rolling out across all platforms—Android, iOS and the web over the next week. This means that the new feature will be released as a server-side change to compatible devices.

Google Photos product manager Janvi Shah said: “This is gradually rolling out over the next week and, as always, you can share these photos with your friends and family across all platforms—Android, iOS and the web—without any loss in image quality from the photos you backed up”.

In order to make sure you receive the new chat feature on Google Photos, make sure that you’ve installed the latest version of the app from the Google Play Store (link). You’re good to go and you will receive the latest feature as soon as Google starts rolling it out to the masses.

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When will I get the new Google Photos chat feature

Google has confirmed that it is launching the new private messaging feature inside Google Photos starting today and it will gradually roll out over the next week.

When the rollout is complete, the new chat feature will be available for access on Android, iOS, and web.

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