Google Photos adds a scrapbook-like Memories view feature aided by AI

Google Photos is introducing a new way to relive and share your most memorable moments with the introduction of a new Memories view, launching today to U.S. users. The feature lets you save your favorite memories or create your own from scratch in order to build out a scrapbook-like timeline that includes things like your most memorable trips, celebrations, and daily moments with loved ones, the company says.

The addition builds on Google Photos’ four-year-old Memories feature for recalling notable moments from your past via a carousel at the top of the Google Photos app. Today, this works something like a combination of Stories and Facebook Memories, allowing you to flip through favorite photos from past months and years. Google says that feature is now used by more than half a billion people monthly.

The new Memories view allows users to now do more with those favorite moments in a creative way. You’ll be able to add and remove specific photos from your Memories view — or even start a Memories view of your own, without relying on those photos already surfaced by the app. You can also rename the Memories view something of your own, instead of whatever more generic title Google Photos includes — like “Best of August 2013,” for example.

An experimental feature from Google Labs in Photos will also suggest other titles created with generative AI. This is found via the “Help me title” button. If you don’t like the AI suggestions, you can edit them or steer them toward different details to include with an “Add hint” button. Google says this feedback will help the AI get better over time.

However, the AI feature will only be available to select accounts in the U.S. for the time being.

In addition to building out your own Memories timeline, you can invite friends and family to collaborate on the Memories view you’ve created, adding their own favorite photos and videos to the collection, similar to Shared Albums.

The resulting scrapbook-like timeline of photos and videos can then be shared elsewhere on social media, and soon, as videos — an indication that Google has sharing to short-form video platforms like YouTube Shorts and TikTok in mind.

The feature is launching first in the U.S. and will expand to global markets in the months ahead.