Use Ask Photos for photos, information & assistance

You can ask Google Photos for photos, information, and assistance with a conversational agent.

When you search with Ask Photos, it starts by showing a page of relevant results. For simple searches like “beach” or “dog,” this is usually enough. But if you ask something complex like “Photos that’d make great phone backgrounds,” or “What did I eat on my trip to Barcelona?,” Gemini models continue to work in the background to narrow down the results set and highlight the most relevant results or information based on your search.

You can try a new way to search your photos with Gemini through Ask Photos. This feature is still experimental, so it may give unexpected or inaccurate results. When you leave feedback, you can help improve Ask Photos for everyone.

Before you start

We’re rolling out Ask Photos to more eligible users who meet the below requirements. These requirements may change over time.

To use Ask Photos, you must:

  • Be 18 or older
  • Be in the United States
  • Have your Google Account language set to English (United States)
  • Have Face Groups turned on
  • Have location estimates enabled

Tip: If you don’t have access to Ask Photos, you can still use classic Search.

Terms of Service

You agree that your use of Ask Photos is subject to the Google Terms of Service and the Generative AI Prohibited Use Policy.

We’re committed to protecting your privacy. Learn how Ask Photos keeps your data private.

Start using Ask Photos

Important:

Step 1: Opt-in to Ask Photos

You can choose one of two ways to opt-in to the Ask Photos feature.

To opt-in to Ask Photos in the Search or Ask tab
  1. On your Android device, open the Google Photos app Photos.
  2. At the bottom, tap Ask .
    • You’ll find a welcome screen or prompt introducing Ask Photos.
  3. To begin onboarding, tap Try now.
    • If you tap “Switch to classic search” during onboarding, you skip Ask Photos and your default search remains the classic experience. A banner to opt-in will still appear at the top of the Search tab until you choose to opt-in to Ask Photos.
  4. To opt-in to Ask Photos, follow the on-screen instructions.
To opt-in to Ask Photos in Google Photos settings
  1. On your Android device, open the Google Photos app Photos.
  2. At the top, tap your Account profile photo or Initial.
  3. Tap Photos settings and then Preferences and then Gemini features in Photos.
  4. Turn on Search with Ask Photos.

Tip: If you can’t opt-in to Ask Photos with any of the methods mentioned above, you may not yet be eligible. Learn more about Ask Photos eligibility.

Step 2: Confirm your face group & label others

Important: As part of the onboarding, you'll be asked to provide information about people in your photos. When you provide the information, you’ll get more accurate and helpful responses from Ask Photos and also improve other features in Photos.

Confirm which face group is yours

To use Ask Photos, you need to confirm your “me” face group. If you exit or skip the “Confirm which face group is yours,” Ask Photos considers onboarding incomplete.

  1. On the onboarding screen, tap a photo of you.
  2. If you want to change the name of your face group, tap the name.
  3. Enter a new name.
  4. Tap Continue.

Learn what happens when you confirm your face group.

Label other people with names or relationships

Important: When you add a name to a face group or edit the name of a face group, the new names are saved to "People & pets in Collections.” Learn more about Face Groups.

  1. When prompted, you’ll see suggestions to label people in your photos.
    • You can skip labeling names and relationships during onboarding.
  2. For each face, enter the person’s name and optionally select a relationship like Mom, Friend, Spouse, or Sibling.
    • To add the word that describes your relationship with that person, tap More options.
  3. Review and confirm to save the labels.

Tips:

  • You can always add names and relationships to faces from the chat. At the top right corner of an Ask Photos text response, tap the three-dot Menu More and then Names & relationships.
  • After onboarding, you can add, edit, and remove names anytime in your "People & pets in Collections."
  • Learn how to remove, add, or change people & pet labels.

Use Ask Photos

Important: When you use your voice to search, your voice recordings aren't stored anywhere. Learn more about what data is stored when you use voice input for Ask Photos.

  1. On your Android device, open the Google Photos app Photos.
  2. At the bottom, tap Ask .
  3. Enter your search into the text box.
    • To use voice input, tap Microphone Microphone. For example, you can say:
      • “Photos of me over time.”
      • “What are all the cities I visited last year?”
      • "First photo of my pet."
  4. Tap Send Send.
    • If you use voice input, you don’t need to tap “Send.” The search will automatically process once you’ve finished speaking.
  5. Wait for Ask Photos to respond. You can find the tasks it’s completing in the chat window, like “Thinking,” “Searching,” or “Reviewing.” During this process, some relevant photos may start to show up even before the full response is ready.
    • Depending on the search and the photos in your library, the results page may include 2 sections:
      • The most relevant results are labeled as “Best match.” To view all of the photos in this section, tap the last photo in the preview with the plus sign.
      • The results below “Best match” are shown in reverse chronological order.
    • Some results may include a text response to help with your search.
  6. After you get your initial results, you can keep the conversation going by asking a follow-up question or clarification. You can also start a new search when you enter a completely different question in the text box.
    • To get new results for the same question: At the top right corner of an Ask Photos text response, tap the three-dot Menu More and then Redo Restore.
Find & manage the Remember List

When you tell Ask Photos information that it could use in the future, it may add this info to the Remember List. When this happens, you’ll find “Added to Remember List” in the chat. You can always access the Remember List through the app settings.

  1. On your Android device, open the Google Photos app Photos.
  2. At the top, tap your Account profile photo or Initial.
  3. Tap Photos settings and then Preferences and then Gemini features in Photos.
  4. Tap Remember List .
  5. Next to the item you want to delete, tap Delete .

Tip: You can always access the Remember List from the three-dot Menu More at the top right corner of an Ask Photos text response.

Leave feedback

This experimental feature from Google Labs won't always get it right, and may give inaccurate or inappropriate answers that don't represent Google's views.

  1. On your Android device, open Google Photos Photos.
  2. Tap Ask.
  3. Ask a question.
  4. Below the response, tap Thumbs up or Thumbs down .
  5. Optional: If you tap Thumbs down , you can send additional details and feedback.
    1. Tap a suggested comment or write your own feedback and then Send.

Tips:

  • When you submit feedback, you grant us permission to communicate with you about your feedback. If you prefer not to receive communications, you can uncheck the box before you submit.
  • To remove feedback, tap Thumbs down again.
  • Learn more about what’s shared when you give feedback.

Use the Google Photos app in Gemini Apps

Important: Check what you need before getting started.

You can also use Ask Photos through the Google Photos app in Gemini. To search for a specific memory or recall information directly from your photo gallery with the Google Photos app in the Gemini mobile app:

  1. Open the Gemini mobile app .
  2. Make sure you’re signed in to the same account you use with Google Photos.
  3. Ask the Gemini app to find a photo in your Google Photos library.

    • Tip: Include @Google Photos or my photos in your prompt to make sure it uses the Google Photos app.

  4. If you haven’t connected Gemini Apps to Google Photos and you’re eligible, you’ll get the option to connect it.
    • Tip: If you’re eligible but haven’t opted in to Ask Photos, you’ll get the option to opt-in and set it up. Learn how to use Ask Photos.
  5. Follow the on-screen instructions.

Connect your Google Photos with the Gemini mobile app.

Stop using Ask Photos

Disable Ask Photos

You can turn off “Search with Ask Photos” from settings:

  1. On your Android device, open the Google Photos app Photos.
  2. At the top, tap your Account profile photo or Initial.
  3. Tap Photos settings and then Preferences and then Gemini features in Photos.
  4. Turn off Search with Ask Photos.

Tips:

  • You can return to use Ask Photos at any time.
  • You can turn off Ask Photos and other Gemini-powered features in Google Photos:
    1. Open the Google Photos app Photos.
    2. Tap Photos settings and then Preferences and then Gemini features in Photos.
    3. Turn off Use Gemini in Photos.
Opt-out of query donation

Humans don’t review Ask Photos responses, unless you give feedback, or in rare cases to address abuse or harm. To help us improve Photos, Ask Photos queries may be reviewed by humans, but we first take steps to protect your privacy. You may turn off query review in settings:

  1. On your Android device, open the Google Photos app Photos.
  2. At the top, tap your Account profile photo or Initial.
  3. Tap Photos settings and then Preferences and then Gemini features in Photos and then Help us improve photos.
  4. Turn off “Allow us to access your queries.”

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