Google has announced several improvements to a Gemini-powered Google Photos feature called Ask Photos. The feature launched last year in early access and it was great for longer search requests, however, when users typed “Dog” or “Beach” looking for those types of pictures, Ask Photos underperformed. Now, Google has addressed this and is bringing the feature to more eligible users in the United States.
The search giant said that users enjoyed asking queries such as “suggest photos that’d make great phone backgrounds” or “what did I eat on my trip to Barcelona?” and getting Gemini-powered responses to these complex questions. Unfortunately, simple searches like “beach” or “dogs” were generating less than optimal results and people complained.
To remedy the situation, Google has brought the best of Google Photos’ classic search feature to Ask Photos to improve latency. Easy, short requests will be dealt with by the old search mechanism and when you ask complex queries, it will switch over to the Gemini-powered search results.
Now that Google has addressed this main issue of simple searches by integrated functionality from the previous search model, the company feels more confident to open up beyond early access and deliver it to more users in the United States. To be eligible, you must be 18+, be in the US, have your Google Account language set to English (United States), and have Face Groups turned on.
This feature is only available on Android and iOS. To start using it, open Google Photos and tap on Ask at the bottom, then press Try now and agree to the terms. If you do not see the Ask button, it means you’re not yet eligible. The feature also can’t be used on computers yet. Hopefully, Google will quickly expand this feature outside the US so that international users can try it out too.