Google Photos media could soon be accessible via Android's new Photo Picker

Google Photos media could soon be accessible via Android’s new Photo Picker،

Android 13's Photo Switcher was a breath of fresh air for privacy-conscious users. Unlike the all-or-nothing access of app-specific switchers, it grants granular control over the photos and videos you share. But her usefulness was limited: your local library was all she knew. However, there is good news on the horizon, as cloud media providers like Google Photos are finally gearing up to join the party.

As spotted by Android Authority, recent Google Photos updates reveal full Photo Picker support for cloud support. Enabling this feature via a hidden flag opens a new “Cloud Media App” page in Settings, where you can enable Google Photos. This, in turn, unlocks an “Access Google Photos” option in the Photos app, allowing you to grant Photo Chooser permission to your cloud library.

Google Photos is set up as a cloud media provider for Android's photo picker | Source – Android Authority

This feature was announced during Google I/O 2022 and has since been recently added to apps like Google Keep, Google Chat, and Google Messages on devices running Android 11 with the November 2023 Google Play System Update However, adoption outside of Google's own apps requires app developers to implement the API, and adoption has been slow.

Now, with the addition of Google Photos and hopefully the wider rollout of this feature, developers might now be encouraged to embrace the Photo Picker, giving users unprecedented control over their shared memories. Hopefully, with Google Photos leading the way, other cloud providers like Microsoft OneDrive will follow, creating a truly universal, privacy-friendly sharing experience on Android.

As great as it sounds, there are still some issues that need to be resolved with the Photo Picker. For example, as one Android expert noted, Michael Rahman, albums created by the application like that of Snapseed remain hidden in the “Photos” tab, absent from “Albums”. Additionally, it found that cloud media does not appear in Android 14's new permission dialog for partial access.

However, these are only minor setbacks in a major step forward. The hope is that other cloud providers will see the benefit of using the photo picker and begin asking their app developers to implement the necessary changes to enable this feature for them. Google has already taken the first step to achieve this.