Google Photos will no longer share images ‘from other apps’ through Partner Sharing

1 week ago 1

Google has made a change to its Partner Sharing feature in Google Photos, with the app no longer sharing images that originate from “other apps.”

Originally launched back in 2017, Partner Sharing is a form of sharing in Google Photos where you can share your library of photos automatically with another user. This can share all photos, photos of specific people, or time-based sharing after a specific date. It’s a handy feature, but it’s seeing a change right now.

Google has quietly updated this functionality to stop sharing photos that originate from “other apps” on your device. This includes photos that are downloaded, screenshots, or photos that arrive via apps such as WhatsApp. Users started noticing the change within the past couple of weeks.

On a support page, Google confirmed the change with an update that was made within the last month as spotted by TechIssuesToday.

Tip: Photos from other apps on Android aren’t shared with your partner account.

There doesn’t appear to be an option to change this, and users note that Photos refuses to share photos such as screenshots unless they’re edited first. That implies there’s some metadata being used to determine where the image originated, but it’s unclear at this time exactly how Photos decides what won’t be shared, and what Google’s reasoning for the change is.

Notably, Google recently added an “Updates” page to the Photos app which includes updates on Partner Sharing.