Google Photos starts rolling out Ask Photos — how to join waitlist

After being previewed at I/O 2024 in May, Google Photos is now rolling out “early access” to Ask Photos to select US users on Android and iOS.

• Google Photos ‘classic search’ adds natural language lookup and ‘Best match’ 

Ask Photos is a conversational search experience that leverages Gemini models to “understand the context of your photo gallery — like the most important people in your life, hobbies or favorite foods — and pull out relevant details to help you find specific memories and uncover information about your life.”

• For example, if you are trying to plan your next camping trip and want to return to a favorite site, you could ask “Where did we camp last time we went to Yosemite?” 
• Or if you want to go back to a restaurant you enjoyed and order the same thing, just ask, “What did we eat at the hotel in Stanley?” 

Ask Photos understands details, like where you took photos with your camping gear or what dish is sitting on the table in your picture at the restaurant, to give you the answer.

When enabled, the last tab in Google Photos becomes “Ask” with a bottom search bar that lets you enter a natural language query. It’s meant to mimic a chat conversation, while you can switch to “classic search” at any time. 

The Gemini logo is featured prominently and it takes a moment for results to load. Ask Photos cycles through “Thinking,” “Searching,” and “Reviewing,” with the last step going through images with Material You shapes leveraged.

If Ask Photos doesn’t find what you’re looking for, “you can provide extra clues or details to nudge it in the right direction.”

Besides search, you can have Ask Photos suggest “best photos from your birthday party for a shared album” or summarize the “top things you did on your recent trip to share with a friend.”

On the privacy front, Google reiterates that “Google Photos is never used for ads and protected with our industry-leading security measures.” Additionally: 

To help us improve Ask Photos, queries may be reviewed by humans, but only after being disconnected from your Google Account to protect your privacy. The answers provided by Ask Photos, including your photos and videos, are not reviewed by humans, unless you provide feedback or in rare cases to address abuse or harm. Learn more in our Help Center. 

Besides today’s early access rollout through Google Labs, you can sign-up for waitlist access here.