A new feature on Google Photos lets you hide the pictures you don't want people to see

pulse

May 26, 2017 4:00 PM

Google Photos' new Archive feature lets you hide your pictures from the main feed without deleting them.

Google Photos is a great photo app, but it can save every photo you take — which isn't always a good thing.

Google Photos users know the blessing and curse of the app's automatic backup feature.

One the one hand, it's a pain-free way of ensuring your photos have a more permanent home in the Google Cloud in case something should happen to your phone.

On the other hand, it can be an embarrassing reminder of the silly selfie you took, text message conversation you screenshotted, or risqué picture you sent late at night. Most of us have experienced the mortifying moment of opening Google Photos on your desktop and seeing those images pop up in your feed.

Now, Google is rolling out a new feature that can help.

Called Archive, the feature is now available for both Android and iOS users as well as the desktop version of Google Photos, but was first spotted by 9to5 Google a few days ago. It's super-simple to use, and may make your life a lot easier.

For the pictures you want to save but don't necessarily want others to see, all you have to do is select them in your Google Photos app. Once they're selected, press the menu button on the upper right-hand side of the screen, and a button that says "Archive" will pop up at the bottom of the screen.

The photos will immediately disappear from your main feed, but they won't be permanently deleted. If you ever want to access them, go to the main menu button in Google Photos on the upper left-hand side of the screen, and you'll see a menu item that says Archive. Click on it, and all your photos will show up organized by date.

9to5 Google notes that the photos will still appear in albums and show up in search results within the app, so the only way to avoid anyone seeing the photos is to delete them from the app for good — or never take them in the first place.

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