How to Use Google Photos Memories Widget on Android and iOS 1

How to Use Google Photos Memories Widget on Android and iOS

Google Photos added a Memories widget to iOS last year. The software giant is finally bringing a similar widget to Android. If Google Photos is your app of choice for storing photos and videos, here’s how you can view your precious memories right from your phone’s home screen. In this article, we will explain how to use the Google Photos Memories widget on Android and iOS.

Use the Google Photos Memories Widget on Android and iOS

The Google Photos Memories widget is widely available on iOS. But on Android, the feature is gradually rolling out. This feature is live by me with Google Photos version #5.52.0.387241369. If you don’t see it yet, you may have to wait for Google to make this feature widely available. Apart from that, here is how you can use the Google Photos memories widget.

Add Google Photos Memories Widget to Home Screen on Android

note: We’re using a Pixel 3 XL running Android 12 beta 3 for this tutorial. We’ve also tried the Memories widget on a OnePlus Nord running Android 11, so you don’t need Android 12 for this feature.

1. Long press anywhere on the home screen and Tap on ‘Widgets’ from the pop-up displayed.

2. Once in the widget picker panel, scroll down until you find ‘Photos’ and click a New ‘Your Memories’ widget from Google Photos. If you’re using Android 12, you can also use the search bar to quickly access the Google Photos memories widget.

3. Press and drag the widget to your home screen. If you are signed in to your phone with more than one Google account, the widget will prompt you to: Choose the account to use for the “Your Memories” feature. Here you have to select the account with all your cloud media backups.

google account photos select memories

4. Then you can resize the Google Photos memories widget to a desired size. For reference, I have included all possible dimensions of the widget below. Specifically, each memory will display a date on the image, as you can see here.

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4. Tap the Memories widget and you will be taken to Google Photos to view the image. After opening an image, the widget will refresh to show you a new image from your camera roll.

photos memories touch action

Add Google Photos Memories Widget to Home Screen on iOS

1. Press and hold the home screen of your iPhone and Tap the ‘+’ icon appear in the upper left corner of the screen to access the widget selector.

How to Use Google Photos Memories Widget on Android and iOS

2. Scroll down until you find the Google Photos widget or use the search bar to find the widget. Press the ‘add widget’ button To add a Google Photos memories widget to your iPhone.

google photos memories widget 2

3. You will now start seeing the memories in Google Photos on your phone’s home screen.

google photos memories widget ios 1

Manage What You See on the Google Photos Memories Widget

Now it’s important to know that you can manage what appears in Memories from your Google Photos account. To do this, follow these steps:

1. Open Google Photos, tap your profile picture in the top right corner and Select ‘Photo settings’. On the Settings page, tap on it. ‘Memories’.

memory settings

2. At the bottom, you will see an option to control notifications. Here you can choose to turn notifications on or off for past years memories, themed memories and more.

memories notifications

3. Next, you can select all the highlights you want to see in the widget. These are the memories that appear at the top of the app’s home screen. You can choose to include memories from previous years, recent highlights, and themed memories in the Memories section of Google Photos.

standout memories

4. You also have the option to: control what kind of creations will appear in memories. This can include animations, cinematic photos, collages, and more.

advanced settings for memories

5. If you prefer to hide images from a specific date range, Tap ‘Hide dates’ On the Memories settings page and choose start and end dates. That way, all the photos you took on those dates won’t show up in the memories widget. To hide a specific contact from your Google Photos memories, see the next section.

hide date memories

Hide Someone From Google Photos Memories

There are times when you prefer not to be reminded of a particular person. While you can delete all these images, not everyone wants to do that. If you prefer to save old pictures but don’t want to be reminded of someone like your ex or pet, you can choose to hide them from Google Photos memories. Here’s how.

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1. From the ‘Memories’ settings page, Tap ‘Hide people and pets’.

hide people and pets

2. You will now see all the faces that Google Photos has ever detected in your image gallery. Now all you have to do is tap the person’s face to hide it from memories. Once you hide their faces, you won’t see them in memories, creations, and your search results.

hide people from google photos memories

Relive Your Life with Google Photos Memories Widget

That brings us to the end of the guide to using the Google Photos memories widget on iOS and Android. If you’d rather see memories as live wallpapers, check out our linked article on setting Google Photos memories as live wallpapers. If you are a Google Photos user, you should also use the locked folder to hide photos and videos. That’s it from us. Share your views on this feature in the comments section below.

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