They’ve totally buried one of my favorite Google Photos features

Google Photos has long been more than just a place to back up your pictures and videos. Its sharing capabilities – especially the direct sharing feature that creates Conversations (or chats) around specific photos or albums – have been genuinely useful for a long time. The Conversations feature, specifically, is a neat way to share memories with specific people, comment, and keep an ongoing visual dialogue all within the Photos app. But lately, if you’re like me, you’ve probably been wondering: where on earth did this handy feature go?

It feels like Google has decided that directly accessing your ongoing photo Conversations is no longer a necessary or straightforward affair. What used to be a more accessible feature now feels like it’s been deliberately buried, leading to a frustrating experience for those of us who actually used and liked it. My gut tells me Google is either planning to phase this out entirely or just doesn’t really care about it anymore.

The new (not improved) way to find your Google Photos Conversations

Instead of a dedicated “Conversations” or “Shared” tab that clearly lists your direct shares and ongoing chats, these interactions are now primarily found within the “Updates” feed. This feed, as you probably know, is basically a catch-all for all your Google Photos notifications – new album shares, comments, likes, and yes, somewhere in there, your direct photo Conversations.

On the web version of Google Photos, if a notification pertains to one of these direct shares, you might see a small “View conversation” text link. It’s subtle, but it’s there, hinting that clicking it will take you to that familiar chat-like interface around the shared photos.

The mobile app experience, however, is even more obtuse if you’re relying on the Updates feed. If photos were shared, the notification might just say “View all” under the photo thumbnails, giving you no clear indication that this was part of an ongoing Conversation rather than just an addition to a shared album. If someone only sent you a text message within that Google Photos Conversation, you get a tiny, almost missable text icon next to the notification.

There is one other way to get directly too your Conversations, but it is wildly buried. You have to tap your Profile Pic, then go to Photos Settings, then tap Sharing, then Manage sharing activity, and finally, you’ll see an option for Conversations. That’s a five-tap journey deep into the settings menu! While technically “direct,” it’s an absurdly convoluted path for what should be a readily accessible communication feature; and it screams deprioritization.

Why Google is pushing this feature to the side is beyond me, but it’s clearly on the way out. I don’t know about you, but I loved being able to quickly share a few photos with a friend or family member and have a quick chat about them right there in Google Photos. It kept everything in context. Now, that simple interaction is far more cumbersome to manage. I’d love to think it will get resurrected, but I have little hope that this helpful, useful feature will be around too much longer. It’s a shame.