Tell me if this sounds familiar. You shared a Google Photos album with your parents or someone who is less tech-savvy, and the next thing you find out, the album link is out on social media. Anyone and everyone can view the photos and there is simply no authorization required. There are countless stories such as this and surprisingly, there is no fix yet. It’s one of the most damning flaws of Google Photos and Google has done little to close this glaring loophole.
In fact, Google Photos does not even notify users that the album link is actually public by default and anyone with the link can view, save and join the album. Since there is no resolution in sight, we have come up with a simple trick that can keep your photos private on Google Photos. With that in mind, let’s go through the steps.
Keep Your Photos Private on Google Photos
1. First of all, share the link of the album to your friends and family. Once everyone has joined the shared album, move to the “Library” tab, and open the album. After that, tap on the three-dot menu and open “Options”.
2. Next, disable the toggle for “Link sharing” and your album will become private. Don’t worry, all the existing members will remain as it is. Now, even if anyone shares the earlier link, no one will be able to view your photos or join the album. To keep your photos private, you need to inculcate the habit of disabling link sharing after everyone has joined the album.
Note: This can only be done by the owner of the album. If you are not the owner, ask the album creator to disable link sharing.
3. Apart from that, you can use Google Photos’ quick sharing menu to privately share photos and videos. This way, Google Photos does not generate a link, instead adds members internally.
However, the downside of this approach is that shared photos are not available as albums, and further, you can’t customize anything. You will find these kinds of shared media only under the “Chat” menu located at the top-left corner.
Secure Your Memories on Google Photos
So that is how you can keep your photos and videos private on Google Photos. I would strongly recommend you to use the regular shared album as it allows you to keep track of everything. You can search for albums, automatically add photos based on similar faces, remove or add members, and more. However, you will also have to learn to disable link sharing once everyone has joined the album. Anyway, that is all from us. If you found the article helpful then do comment down below and let us know. Also, you can find more Google Photos tips over here.
