Automatic Sharing Update To Google Photos Couldn't Possibly End Badly

Google Photos is about to give you a big nudge in the right direction when it comes to Photo sharing. Google Photos recognizes the faces that appear in the photos we upload automatically. When Google Photos recognizes these faces, in the near future, it'll start to recommend that we send these photos to the people in the photos that it's recognized.

In other words, the app will tell you that you're a bad person for trying to keep all your photos to yourself. How dare you take a photo of someone else and not give it to them immediately afterward. As such, Google Photos will have a new tab, this tab connecting to Sharing, and Sharing only.

In the very near future, Google Photos will show notifications which say, essentially, "New photos with your friends – share with them?" If a set of photos is shared with a friend as recognized in said photos, they'll get a notification from their own Google Photos app – or an SMS message or email if they don't yet have Google Photos installed.

By far the creepiest quote of the day here at Google I/O 2017 so far: "Wouldn't it be great if Google Photos automatically shared photos with that person?" Yes... or no, probably not. The good news is, as Google suggested, "You have complete control over which photos you share."

Meanwhile Google Photos just reached a whopping 500-million monthly active users. That means that quite a few people have the app, and it's quite likely they know you and you know them. You'll feel obligated – and you'll feel JUST TERRIBLE if you don't share!

This update to Google Photos will be coming soon. When it does, you'll know about it. Google will tell you – and won't let you forget it.