Android users are getting a big update to how they pick and share photos and videos. Google is going to add a much-requested search bar to its Photo Picker, and eventually, a date-based browsing tool will also be released. These changes will make it easier to find specific files to share.
The Photo Picker’s main job is to give users a safe and easy way to choose photos, GIFs, and videos to share with apps. Unlike older methods that sometimes gave apps full access to a user’s entire media library, the Photo Picker focuses on privacy by only letting users share exactly what they select. This careful control is a lot safer to use regularly and reduces the chance that apps can see private photos or videos without permission.
Even though the Photo Picker is great for privacy, it misses some features that you would expect from a gallery app. Android is a big OS, but it seems like it takes a while for Google to add basic features to its apps. For example, the image galleryonly recently receivedthe ability to flip images.
I would say the biggest problem with the image picker was the lack of a search bar, which is a huge oversight. This forced you to scroll through hundreds or even thousands of images and videos to find one specific file. While support for cloud media was added to the Photo Pickerearly last year, the search feature did not arrive until now.
It is being rolled out, so you may not see it just yet. The search bar will be placed at the top, above the “Photos” and “Collections” tabs. The search will let you look through both your local and cloud-stored media, so there’s no need to save every image to your phone. It looks like there will be previous searches below the bar to help find any images you use often.
Right now, the search feature looks fairly simple. You don’t need to worry about having an AI that answers a query about your photo search instead of just finding the photos. However, I would expect Gemini to get added in eventually. In this case, I think that would help a lot because you could ask Gemini to find a photo in your gallery based on your description. Still, for now, you can type in a simple description, and that will help you get the right image.
Along with the search bar, Google is also working on a date scrubber. While there aren’t any images of how this will look in the Photo Picker yet, it will likely work like the date scrubber in Google Photos or any other app. This will likely allow you to quickly jump to photos from a certain month or even a past year.
For now, it may take some time to get to everyone. However, expect an update to your Google Photo Picker app soon.
