Everything you need to know

Google Photos is a popular backup solution for storing memories. It has powerful AI features, Magic Editor, cross-platform availability, and seamless integration on Android. After uploading thousands of photos and videos to Google Photos, it can be daunting to find a special photo in a sea of images. Enter Ask Photos in Google Photos, a handy feature from Gemini AI that changes the way you interact with your photo collections.

In the coming months, a Gemini-powered search icon will appear in Google Photos on your iPhone, Android, and Samsung Galaxy devices. This guide will walk you through everything you need to know about Ask Photos, from its internal mechanics to your privacy concerns.

Google Photos: Everything you need to know

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What is Ask Photos in Google Photos?

Source: Google

Google announced the Ask Photos feature in May 2024. It uses the Gemini AI model to find photos or a specific memory in your gallery. Google Photos already offers several ways to retrieve information in your gallery. However, these methods are not always effective, especially when you are looking for a specific memory in your massive media library. This is where Ask Photos comes to the rescue.

Ask Photos is a personal photo assistant that knows your memories as well as you do. You can start a conversation with Gemini in Google Photos and share a description of the photo you want. You don’t have to write detailed prompts like you do with Gemini AI. You can vaguely describe a photo or video and let it find the exact media based on your description.

Ask Photos eliminates the need for endless scrolling or frustrating keyword searches in Google Photos. It makes your vast media collection instantly accessible and can be a great addition if you’re struggling to organize your Google Photos library.

Ask Photos in Google Photos: Features

Unlike other Google Workspace apps, Google hasn’t integrated the Gemini AI model into Google Photos and settled for that. It’s powerful and packed with features to help you find relevant photos instantly. Before we test it in action, let’s quickly go over its features.

Conversation search: Open Ask Photos and use natural language like “Show me the best photos from every Christmas” to get relevant images. Gemini AI is smart enough to decipher your requests in real time.
Scene understanding: Beyond objects, people, places and time, Ask Photos understands the context of an image. It can recognize and find your photos of sunsets, cityscapes or beaches.
Location-based search: If you’re looking for something specific, ask the Photos app to use its location and facial recognition features to zoom in on the exact moments and faces you’re looking for.
Search for keywords: You don’t have to write long prompts to find images in your Google Photos library. It supports keyword search. You can type “candles” or “balloons” and get relevant results.
Intuitive recommendations: Like Google Search, the Ask Photos feature powered by Gemini is smart enough to anticipate what you’re looking for, offering intelligent suggestions as soon as you type in a keyword or prompt.
Suggest top images: Ask Photos goes beyond searching Google Photos. Let’s say you went to a Christmas party and took hundreds of photos and videos of friends and family. Instead of manually selecting the best snaps, open Ask Photos and instruct it to pick the best memories. You can also ask Gemini AI to write a personalized caption to share your memories on social media.

Find your photos with Ask Photos in Google Photos

Now that you know how Ask Photos works in Google Photos, let’s see it in action.

start Google Photos.
Choose Seek at the bottom.
Select the Questions Button next to the search bar.

Source: Google
Ask Photos displays various prompts, such as “Photos of me over time,” “The first photo in my library,” “What places have I visited in the last year?” and more.

Source: Google
Knock Ask a question and enter your search query to find relevant photos.

Source: Google

Here are some sample prompts you can use with Ask Photos in Google Photos:

Which places did I visit last year?
Photos with (friend’s name).
Show me events from the last month.
Show photos with Christmas decorations.
Find calm and beautiful sunset photos.
Pictures of the Eiffel Tower from my trip to Paris.
Show me pictures of my car before I had it repainted.
Find pictures of the food I cooked for Thanksgiving dinner last year.

Be as detailed as possible in your prompts. The more detailed you are, the more accurate your results will be.

Because Ask Photos understands everyday language, you don’t need to be particularly specific with keywords. Because Ask Photos is still under development, it may not understand your queries correctly and show inaccurate results.

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How does Ask Photos work?

Ask Photos understands your prompt and executes a sophisticated search strategy that takes keywords and concepts into account. The Gemini model uses multi-model features to understand the content of each photo, read the text in the image, and deliver a helpful answer with images and videos.

As for your privacy and security concerns, Google points out that your personal information in Google Photos will never be used for advertising. Also, no one can review your conversations and personal information in Ask Photos.

Ask Photos in Google Photos: Availability

Google has announced Ask Photos in May 2024. It will be introduced in the coming months. You will find the Questions Button in Seek Menu if Ask Photos is available for your account.

Find your memories in seconds

Google Photos is designed with AI at its core. It offers the ability to search photos and videos by people, pets, places, types, and more, but the Ask Photos feature powered by Gemini takes your search experience to the next level. What are you waiting for? Try it out and quickly relive your precious memories. Google Photos includes other helpful features. Check out these handy Google Photos tips.