Joe Maring / Android Authority
TL;DR
- Code found via an Android Authority teardown suggests Google could bring Ask functionality to Moments in Google Photos.
- The code snippet hints at “Ask” capabilities in Stories, which likely refers to Moments.
- This comes after Google has aggressively integrated the Ask feature in the Photos app, much to the chagrin of some users.
Google introduced Ask functionality in Google Photos in 2024, and the company recently replaced the app’s classic search tool with this AI-driven Ask feature. Now, it looks like the company might bring Ask capabilities to another area of Google Photos.
We dug into a recent version of Google Photos for Android (v7.59) and found a code snippet hinting at Ask functionality coming to “stories.” In other words, this AI-driven search feature could be coming to your Moments albums in Google Photos. Check out the relevant snippet below.
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More specifically, the snippet contains two mentions of the term “askinstories”. It also contains the word “prototype,” which suggests that this integration might be an internal experiment or an early test. So you probably shouldn’t expect this feature to launch soon.
In any event, Ask functionality in Moments would likely allow you to (surprise) ask anything about specific photos, themes, or subjects in a Moment album. This could be useful if you came across a specific theme/topic in a showcased album and want to quickly find more examples in your library.
I’m not sure how well this integration would be received by some users in the wake of Ask coming to Google Photos. Google recently riled some people by replacing the tried-and-tested search field with an Ask button. Unfortunately, users reported that the Ask function doesn’t work nearly as well as the old search field. Thankfully, there’s a quick way to turn off the Ask button.
This isn’t the only upcoming feature we’ve discovered in Google Photos today. We also discovered evidence of a toggle to preserve battery life by backing up photos and videos less often.
⚠️ An APK teardown helps predict features that may arrive on a service in the future based on work-in-progress code. However, it is possible that such predicted features may not make it to a public release.
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