New Google Photos picker in Gmail in iOS
The new upgrade would bring the picker to the options in the Attachment menu of Gmail on iPhone. When you compose an email (on iPhone and iPad), you should be getting a new “Google Photos” option when you want to attach a file.
Currently, the options in the menu are Drive, Files, Camera, and Photos. The Photos option opens the built-in Gallery picker on iPhones and iPads. With the update, however, you would be able to also choose Google Photos as a source for the image you’d like to include in the email.
iPhone and iPad users will now be able to email backed-up photos from Google Photos albums, collections, and shared albums as well.
The Google Photos picker will use the Gmail address (your Google account) to access the Google Photos cloud storage, so you won’t have to log in again or do anything additional to choose your photos.
Google is also including two features in the picker. You can search for the image you’d like with a search bar. The Mountain View tech giant says that results can match album names. You will also be able to see your recent searches there.
With the new picker, you’ll also be able to select multiple photos and videos at the same time.
Google app integration on iPhones
On iPhone, Apple Mail already works seamlessly with the built-in Photos app. When you attach an image, you’re browsing your iPhone’s photo library. This includes anything synced through iCloud Photos as well. This is, pretty much, the most natural way to do it because it’s part of the system, and you don’t have to really think about where the photo is stored.
However, if you primarily use Google Photos on your iPhone, things are different. Before this change, getting something that’s in Google Photos to attach was somewhat a hassle, even on Gmail. With this new picker, Gmail is finally fixing this annoyance. If Google Photos is your main photo backup (especially if you switch between Android, web, and iPhone), this change makes attaching photos much faster and more convenient.
Other email apps like Outlook support attaching files from cloud services like OneDrive or Google Drive. But Gmail’s Photo Picker is more direct.
On Android, we have a similar idea, but broader, in a way. The photo picker can show “cloud photos” from Google Photos alongside your local images and videos.
Recently, Gmail got a huge boost thanks to Gemini. Alongside a bunch of helpful generative AI features, there’s a cool feature to ask your inbox a question and find the answer without having to use keywords to search (this one is for paid subscribers, though).
Even though I use Apple’s Photos, I still think this Gmail update is great
I mostly use the iPhone’s default Photos app, so I don’t personally feel blocked without this feature. Apple Mail works great with the system gallery, and for quick emails, that’s usually enough for me.
Still, this change makes sense for people who use Google Photos as their main backup. You will no longer need to jump between apps, which saves time. This feature may not be useful for all iPhone users, but for the right ones, it is an obvious improvement. And I happen to love these kinds of updates.
