Explore the New Undo Device Backup Feature in Google Photos for Android
Google Photos has long been a popular choice among users for photo organization and cloud backup, despite competition offering richer feature sets. Recently, Google has enhanced its Android application with a notable addition – the ability to undo device backup. This feature aligns the Android version more closely with its iOS counterpart, which had this functionality earlier.
What Does Undo Device Backup Entail?
With this new feature, users can now easily reverse their decision to back up photos from their Android devices. According to the official support page, undoing the device backup will not only remove photos from the backup but also purge deleted images from albums, shared collections, search results, and memories. Importantly, items stored in the Locked Folder or device specific folders will also be impacted.
How to Use the Undo Device Backup Feature
The “Undo device backup”feature is accessible in Google Photos version 7.18 for Android. Follow these simple steps to utilize it:
- Launch the Google Photos app on your Android device.
- Tap on your profile picture, then select Photos settings.
- Select Backup.
- Scroll down to find the off-screen items.
- Tap on Undo backup for this device.
- Tick the box that says “I understand my photos and videos from this device will be deleted from Google Photos“, and then choose Delete Google Photos Backup.
Implications of Undoing Backup
Upon completing these steps, your photos will be deleted from Google Cloud but will continue to exist on your device. Moreover, the backup feature will be automatically disabled. However, users should be aware that if they are logged into the same Google account on multiple devices with backup enabled, photos might be backed up again inadvertently.
Additionally, if partner sharing is activated, there is a possibility that photos or videos could re-upload to Google Photos if the partner has the autosave feature enabled.
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