500 million people using Google Photos, and three new ways to share

Two years ago we introduced Google Photos and now, more than 500 million people use it every month, backing up more than 1.2 billion photos and videos per day. Today, we’re announcing three new ways to help you share and receive the meaningful moments in your life.

Suggested Sharing

How many times have you forgotten to share that group shot with everyone else in it? Or how often do you have to ask your spouse to send those cute pictures of the kids?

With our new sharing suggestions, you can finally share and receive all the photos that really matter to you, without the work. Using our machine learning technology, Google Photos will not only remind you to share—it will automatically select the right photos, and even suggest who you should send them to based on who was in the photos. Just tap send, and your friends and family will see all your photos, and get a reminder to add theirs too. Now all the photos of that birthday dinner or weekend trip are in one place, including—and especially—the photos you didn’t take.

You’ll see all your sharing activities and these suggestions in our new Sharing tab, which will be rolling out on Android, iOS and web in the coming weeks.

Shared Libraries

But what about that special person you share just about everything with, like your spouse, partner or best friend? Wouldn’t it be easier if you could  automatically share relevant photos with them? For example, I would love it if every photo I ever took of my kids was shared with my wife.

With Shared Libraries, you can effortlessly and automatically send and receive photos with one other person. You can give them access to your full photo library or, if you prefer, only photos of certain people or from a certain date forward. And when they share their library with you, you can automatically save the photos you want so they also show up in search and in the movies, collages and other fun creations Google Photos makes for you. Gone are the days of begging your partner for those special pictures only stored on their phone.

Shared Libraries will also be rolling out on Android, iOS and web in the coming weeks.

Photo Books

There’s something special about a printed photo album that brings you back to a moment from the past; whether it’s the first dance on your wedding day or all the family road trips you took over the years. But printing albums is hard work—you have to hunt across different devices and accounts, select the best from among the hundreds of shots, upload to a printing service, and arrange dozens of pages.

Now what used to take hours in front of a computer takes just a few minutes with Google Photos. Photo books are incredibly easy to make—even on your phone. They’re beautiful, high quality, with a clean and modern design. And thanks to our powerful search technology, your photos are already organized by the people, places, or things that matter. Once you select the photos, Google Photos will find the best shots for you—removing duplicates and poor quality images. All that’s left for you to do is make a few tweaks and place your order. Soon, we’ll even suggest photo books just for you, like your trip to the Grand Canyon, time with family during the holidays, your puppy, or even your kid’s artwork.

Photo books are rolling out today in the U.S. on web, and on Android and iOS next week, starting at just $9.99 for a 20-page softcover book and $19.99 for a hardcover book. We’ll bring photo books to more countries soon.