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How do I permanently disable random Google Photos popup to backup photos? (2024)

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Re: How do I permanently disable random Google Photos popup to backup photos? (2024)

#51

Post by JimDabell »

nom wrote: post #5
dt3ft wrote: post #2

Older people (seen it at 65+) will just click the nag without knowing what the button does and end up beaming up all photos to google cloud with no ability to disable the nag (it keeps showing up after a while) even when dismissed. If you are concerned about your data privacy, you may want to check on what photos of say your kids your parents are beaming up to google without their or your knowledge.

It is worse than that. It fills up your accounts cloud storage, where your Google docs, sheets, drive files etc are stored. Once full you are caught in their trap: pay a monthly fee to the mafia or delete your data! This flow is intentional and they have set up everything to bring you there. The Photo-Backup popup (and arguably the whole photo feature) helps to shovel users more quickly to the end of the monetization…

It’s even worse than that! There is no delete all feature! So if you have 100k photos and make the mistake of saying yes to Google Photos just once, it will fill up all your storage space, block your email until you pay for extra storage, then force you to delete all your photos manually, one page at a time, before you can stop using it. I think that trap is the sleaziest thing I’ve seen Google do.

Re: How do I permanently disable random Google Photos popup to backup photos? (2024)

#53

Post by gertop »

whynou2f wrote: post #28
nom wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is worse than that. It fills up your accounts cloud storage, where your Google docs, sheets, drive files etc are stored. Once full you are caught in their trap: pay a monthly fee to the mafia or delete your data! This flow is intentional and they have set up everything to bring you there. The Photo-Backup popup (and arguably the whole photo feature) helps to shovel users more quickly to the end of the monetization…

Eventually all those valuable pics they take will be lost if GP is disabled and phone is lost or screen damaged. And someone will complain - you can't even have sensible defaults. I understand you perhaps have hatred for google but hosting immich or ente is not for everyone. It is far easier for average Jose to pay for GP or some cloud. Unless you plan to setup at least some free cloud don't bother to lecture others

I hate Google and their dark patterns as much as the next guy but I agree: Having the pop-up once or twice or even three times is reasonable. A lot of people value the backup more than their privacy.

But after saying no three times, it really ought to leave the user alone...

Re: How do I permanently disable random Google Photos popup to backup photos? (2024)

#54

Post by trelbutate »

jzer0cool wrote: post #45

I have it off. Although not backed up I see the image sorta AI scanned where, for a moment it outlines, segments people for a brief moment. Anyone notice this and what is going on?

That runs locally as far as I know. I have backup turned off and I can still search for simple things in the photos (like "dog"), but nothing more complex than that. Only when you enable the backup and it gets uploaded to the cloud do they run more advanced models on it.

Re: How do I permanently disable random Google Photos popup to backup photos? (2024)

#55

Post by TekMol »

gertop wrote: post #50
TekMol wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just tried that. Unfortunately, it seems to completely mess up the interface? I couldn't even see all photos anymore. Even though I do not use backup at all. So it is not possible that those photos are in the cloud or something.

Force close the app and clear the cache, your photos will come back. Or clear data completely, then open the app "for the first time" and immediately log out. It'll work, but as you've discovered, google made sure that it isn't the happy path. Also no search (not even by file name), no albums, some editing functions won't work (even though they're local), and a few more annoyances. but also no more backup prompt...

Oh, that looks good!

I closed the app, stopped it and cleared the cache. Then restarted it.

The UI is surprisingly sane now. My first impression is that it is much better than before. Everything is neatly layed out in a series of albums, for each the latest images are shown and I can click on the album name and it displays them all.

So I do see my albums. Those seem to be just directories in /Pictures/ which it seems I can edit with the files app?

Am I missing out on anything this way? I don't need search.

All the usualy edit functions like cropping, adjusting colors etc also seem to still be there.

Re: How do I permanently disable random Google Photos popup to backup photos? (2024)

#56

Post by ozyschmozy »

a10c wrote: post #32
hiisukun wrote: post #14

This exact issue was the final straw for me ditching google photos! I had previously been using syncthing to sync & backup the photos, same as other files on my phone and laptop. I now use Immich [1] (mentioned elsewhere in this thread but without the proper link), having purchased a single-payment lifetime family licence. There is, as I understand it, no benefit to me to purchase it. After a month of use it was clea…

I moved my 565GB photo library to immich about a year ago and haven't looked back. Unfortunately, convincing my wife has been a bit harder, as she has real network effects of many shared albums across a large family (30+) that all aren't going to switch the immich app so they can join her album and sync the photos. Nonetheless, a positive move in the right direction!

What's your setup like? Do you host it on your own hardware or the cloud? Is it exposed to the internet?

I have a homelab setup with my media server stuff and frigate (for security cameras), and they're only accessible via tailscale if I'm not at home. It would theoretically be easy enough to throw immich in there as well but I don't know how the app will behave when it can't reach the server half the time

Re: How do I permanently disable random Google Photos popup to backup photos? (2024)

#57

Post by distances »

speedstyle wrote: post #9

I use Ente photos [0] without logging in, just as a local gallery. Since their backup solution is E2EE, it does everything on-device – face/object search, map view, memories [0] https://ente.com

And I use Google's own Gallery app instead of Photos. Like for others, the backup notification is what renders Photos unusable for me.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.and...

Re: How do I permanently disable random Google Photos popup to backup photos? (2024)

#58

Post by cryo32 »

andrepd wrote: post #30
therein wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You know what I wish I could ditch but cannot due to their firm grip on it, Google Wallet. Every other time I open it, it shows a pop-up asking "Can we use your payment data to show you more relevant ads?" which is annoying but what's more aggravating is the choices: "Yes", "Remind me Later".

I mean, is it that much of a hassle to carry a debit card with you?

Yeah do that. I’ve just started doing this again. I have an iPhone but Apple Pay crapped put and I couldn’t remember my debit card pin. This was on holiday in Germany so I was up shit creek. Turns out wallet apps help make you stupid.

Gone back to physical cards.

Re: How do I permanently disable random Google Photos popup to backup photos? (2024)

#59

Post by MattPalmer1086 »

hiisukun wrote: post #14

This exact issue was the final straw for me ditching google photos! I had previously been using syncthing to sync & backup the photos, same as other files on my phone and laptop. I now use Immich [1] (mentioned elsewhere in this thread but without the proper link), having purchased a single-payment lifetime family licence. There is, as I understand it, no benefit to me to purchase it. After a month of use it was clea…

I just installed Immich this weekend to try it out - it is pretty good! Face grouping, semantic search all seem to work well.

I find it better than google photos already in some ways. For example, to add photos to an album google forces you to scroll slowly through all of them so the thumbnails load, before you can multi select them all. Immich just let me select the top picture, go straight to the bottom and select all of them. Makes a difference when adding over a thousand photos!

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