I finally fixed the most annoying thing about Google Photos

Google Photos recently made a very annoying change for everyone: it changed the old tried and true search to an "ask Photos" AI search that changes how you search your photo library by having to use natural language instead of keywords like you're probably used to.

The new AI-based search makes me have to entirely rethink how to find what I'm looking for, and I don't like it.

Fortunately, Google recently added a toggle to go back to the previous Google Photos search experience. I'll show you how to do that with a 30 second fix, plus give you a few other Google Photos tweaks and fixes that can solve other frustrations, like the fact that Google keeps showing you pictures of your ex-partner in the Memories section of the app.

How to go back to the old Google Photos search

I don't like the new Gemini-powered search called "Ask Photos"

I get it — AI is in everything now (and be mindful to conserve tokens). But when Google updated Photos to be powered by Gemini, searching Google Photos got a lot worse for me.

But you can go back to the old Google Photos search easily. The new AI search is called "Ask Photos". It requires you to "ask" the search for what you're looking for using natural language. I much prefer the classic search experience that I mastered after many years of using Google Photos.

Here is how to revert to the previous search experience: in Google Photos tap your profile picture in the upper right > Photos settings > Preferences > Gemini features in Photos > Turn off Ask Photos. The changes will take effect immediately, and you can go back to the old search experience. You know you did it right when the search icon goes back to the plain magnifying glass as shown above, and not the fancy magnifying glass with the silly Gemini stars icon.

Stop seeing photos of your ex-partner in Memories

You don't need to be reminded of him/her every time you open Photos

When you open Google Photos, by default you see a row of memories above your photo view. These memories are curated pictures from years ago. It's a nice feature, unless you are trying to forget your ex-partner and don't need to be reminded of the date you had with him or her from 3 years ago. Google Photos lets you exclude certain faces from Memories (and also add people you want to see more of).

To customize your memories, go to Photos Settings > Preferences > Memories > Hide people and pets. From this screen, you can pick faces of people and pets you want to show more of on the top, and if you scroll down a bit, you can add faces of people you want to exclude from your memories.

If you want a more extreme measure, and you don't want to ever see pictures of your ex-partner even in group photos (in search results), you can add them to the Blocked section below.

Stop backing up screenshots

Turn this off in settings to save cloud space

By default, your precious Google Photos storage space is being used up by the screenshots you take, including the ones you accidentally snap and will never need. Stop Google Photos from backing up screenshots with this simple settings change.

Go to Photos Settings > Preferences > Backup > Back up folders > turn off Screenshots.

Use Google Photos' amazing widgets

Add personality to your homescreen

Google Photos offers meaningful home screen widgets that use Google’s facial recognition to show rotating photo frames of the people and pets you care about most.

To do this, just add a new widget to your homescreen, go to Photos, and pick the People and Pets widget. From there you can choose a frame size and select which people or pets you want the widget to rotate through (you can pick multiple faces, so imagine picking all of your children to rotate within the same frame widget), then drag the widget to a space on your homescreen.

Google Photos is great

But make it work the way you do

Google Photos is one of the best apps to manage a huge photo library (even though there are more private alternatives) thanks to easy and generous cloud storage provided by Google, best-in-class facial recognition that makes it easy to find the people and moments you're looking for. Plus, it's available on both Android and iOS, and Google constantly adds new features.

But sometimes, these new features, like "Ask Photos", are a step backwards if you're used to a certain way of doing things. When Google Photos switched to the AI-powered Gemini search, I was disappointed, but since then Google has added an easy way to revert to the previous search experience which is much appreciated.