Google Photos is getting new sorting features to cut out chaos

By Tushar Mehta Published February 5, 2025

Joe Maring / Digital Trends

The Google Photos app on Android has been updated with tools to organize the default view more effectively. Google has added fresh options in the app to hide any automatically saved media, such as screenshots or imaged and videos shared through messaging apps such as WhatsApp, bringing about a meaningful change for those who use Google Photos as the primary app to view and sort images and videos on their Android devices. This addition could be a part of the larger redesign that Google Photos may be getting soon.

With this update, Google has expanded sorting features and clubbed them under “Photos view,” which replaces the earlier option to “personalize your grid.” Android Authority first spotted these new settings, which bring options to “show content from other apps.”

Google Photos feature to hide clutter from other apps. — Android Authority

The feature helps you focus on essential media, such as that from the phone’s camera, without requiring extra steps involved in navigating to separate albums that appear on the app’s Collections tab.

Recommended Videos

Another new option lets you “hide clutter from other apps,” which essentially curbs media such as screenshots, GIFs, or attachments from apps — for instance, daily greetings received in your family WhatsApp group — from showing up on the main timeline. As an extension to this option, you will also be able to whitelist apps, and media from these will appear amidst pictures from your cameras.

You may either choose to hide the “clutter” from third-party apps once they have been backed up to your Google Drive or hide it entirely. We aren’t quite sure if the feature uses any rules to exclude photos of people or pets shared using third-party apps, though it isn’t immediately apparent. That means you may have to add them to your library or back them up to the cloud if you wish for photos received from other people to show up on your timeline.

The update is reportedly rolling out with version 7.14.0.720276279 of Google Photos on Android. We have yet to receive the latest update, but expect to get it in a few days as part of a gradual rollout. Meanwhile, a similar feature for iOS has yet to be reported but may be on its way.

Topics

Mobile Writer

Tushar is a freelance writer at Digital Trends and has been contributing to the Mobile Section for the past three years…

Mobile

Google’s Call Notes feature could be getting even better

A woman holding a purple Google Pixel 9a.

The Google Pixel 9 series introduced the Call Notes feature, which finally allowed users to record phone calls on their devices. Call Notes uses AI to summarize the main points of a call, generate a transcript, and provide an audio recording. Now the folks over at Android Authority have discovered another feature that could be coming soon.

Specifically, two lines of code suggest you could potentially and share full call transcripts. This would be particularly helpful for someone conducting interviews for research, or even for hiring managers that perform phone interviews. Users could quickly search for keywords and extract the most important information from a call.

Mobile

Google Messages may receive features you never knew were missing

The Google Messages app on the Galaxy S25 Ultra.

Google may be upgrading Google Messages with the ability for users to mention other people in group chats and send links and QR codes.

According to a report from 9to5Google, a recent APK teardown for the latest beta for the Android messaging app, version 20250331_02_RC00, suggests it's planning to implement support for the aforementioned features that not everyone noticed was missing from their group chats before. You'll be able to mention someone in the group chat to get their attention when you need to directly ask or tell them something related to a topic being discussed, and enable notifications for when someone mentions you. You will also have the option to snooze notifications in increments of one, eight and 24 hours, as well as "Always." However, you may not be able to snooze notifications for certain group chats.

Mobile

Five reasons I’m excited for the new Google Pixel 9a

Person holds Pixel 9a in hand while sitting in a car.

Google has consistently ranked among the best smartphones for its affordable devices over the past six years, particularly with its Pixel A series. The Pixel 3a set the trend for major phone manufacturers to provide a compelling experience at half the price of flagship models, intensifying competition in this segment.

In the last three months, we’ve seen Samsung introduce the Galaxy A56 and Galaxy A36, which deliver features from the Galaxy S25 series at a significantly lower price point. Then there’s Apple, which entered the market with the iPhone 16e, priced considerably higher than its rivals. Additionally, Nothing offers the Nothing Phone 3a and Phone 3a Pro, arguably the best phones available at $379 and $459, respectively.

nproxy.org