Google sent out an “Album Archive Update” email today letting users know that the old Gallery UI for Hangouts will be gone next month.
Google says, “Some content only available in Album Archive will be deleted starting July 19,” including:
- Rare instances such as small thumbnails and album comments or likes
- Some Google Hangouts data from the album archive
- Background images loaded in the Gmail theme picker prior to 2018
visit to get.google.com/albumarchive It reveals an old gallery UI where the most popular album is called “Photos from Hangouts”. Google says these are the “Photos and Videos Shared on Hangouts”.
It’s organized by conversation, including SMS threads, with the most recent entry dating back to 2016, in my case. Some of the galleries here contain hundreds of images that also appear in Google Chat for a single conversation you’ve verified.
Album Archive “will no longer be available” on July 19, 2023, and Google recommends that users download a copy of the data before that date via Get out.
It wouldn’t hurt to follow Google’s suggestion and get a copy of these images, but – The best I can say – These photos must be available in Google Chat and remain so even after the next month. If anything, this is a good trip down memory lane back in the time when I used Google heavily for consumer messaging.
This is honestly a very confusing email, tho corresponding supporting document It is hosted on the “Picasa and Picasa Web Albums” help page. It appears to be a relic of this old product and Google+. However, this gallery view where you can see all the photos you’ve sent in any chat is quite nice.
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