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Updated July 2026 · real, multi-region App Store reviews
Head-to-head

Google Photos vs Google

Google Photos 4.8★ · Free to download 70
Winner Google Photos
Google 4.6★ · Free to download 55

Google Photos is the better choice for dedicated photo management and backup, despite recent performance and UX issues, while the Google app struggles with integrating new AI features and maintaining core search functionality.

Full reviews: Google Photos · Google

Google Photos excels at automatic backups and memory creation, though users report recent issues with performance, deleting photos, and a confusing interface. The Google app, while a long-standing search tool, faces significant criticism for its new AI features, privacy concerns, and degraded search functionality.

Head to head

Features edge: Google PhotosR5R6R11R15
Google Photos Google Photos users appreciate its automatic backup, video creation from photos, and memory reminders R5R6R11. However, recent updates have broken features like photo-to-video creation, magic eraser, and custom album ordering . Users also dislike the new main photo grid and the removal of the monthly view R9R15.
Google The Google app is praised for its ability to answer questions and provide relevant information . However, the integration of AI/Gemini has been heavily criticized, with users reporting broken tab management, unresponsive AI, and the removal of useful features like reverse image search and translation R70R82R97. Some users also note issues with search results being less relevant or pushing unwanted content .
Ease of Use tieR1R7R8R13
Google Photos Many Google Photos users find it easy to find and share photos and appreciate the automatic backup R8. However, recent updates have made the app's UX difficult, especially for manual uploads, and some users find the interface bloated and confusing R1R7R13R15. Issues with selecting specific photos for shared albums are also reported R1R19R52.
Google The Google app is generally considered easy to use for basic searching . However, users report difficulties with signing in, managing emails, and the new AI interface interfering with tab management and basic search functions R70. Some find it difficult to log out of their Google account .
Reliability tieR3R9R10R12
Google Photos Long-time Google Photos users report a decline in reliability, with issues like photos not deleting, app freezing, slow performance, and crashing R3R9R12. Some users also experience problems with photos not uploading correctly, disappearing from albums, or search not working R10.
Google The Google app also has reliability issues, with users reporting slow loading times for searches, the app disappearing, and new features being buggy . The AI mode is particularly noted for being unresponsive and having 'hallucinations' R97R119.
Price/Value tieR3R4R37R55
Google Photos Google Photos is free to download, but users note that it's no longer free for unlimited storage, leading to pressure to buy more space R3R4R37R55. Some feel tricked into enabling backup, leading to unexpected storage consumption R4R37R55.
Google The Google app is free to download. Users complain about excessive ads, privacy concerns, and the sale of personal data, which diminishes its value despite being free .
Support tieR16R70R82R97
Google Photos One user received a developer response that did not address their specific issue, suggesting a lack of thorough review or reliance on automated responses R16.
Google No specific reviews mention direct support interactions, but the general sentiment regarding new features and bugs suggests dissatisfaction with how issues are addressed R70R82R97R119.
Pick Google Photos if

You need a dedicated app for photo backup, organization, and memory creation, and are willing to tolerate recent performance and UX issues R5R6.

Pick Google if

You primarily need a search engine and are comfortable with Google's ecosystem, despite concerns about AI integration and privacy .

Evidence note: Reviews for both apps highlight significant recent negative experiences, particularly concerning new updates and AI integration, which may skew recent user sentiment. Google Photos has a higher lifetime rating, but many recent reviews reflect a decline in satisfaction.

Frequently asked

Is Google Photos still free for unlimited storage?
No, Google Photos is no longer free for unlimited storage, and users report being prompted to buy more space once their quota is reached R3R4R37.
Does the Google app have issues with its AI features?
Yes, many users report significant issues with the Google app's AI/Gemini features, including broken tab management, unresponsiveness, and the removal of previously available tools R70R82R97R119.
Can I manually upload photos to Google Photos without automatic backup?
Users report that it is difficult and borderline unusable to manually upload photos to Google Photos without enabling full automatic backup, as the app often forces full access or makes it hard to select specific photos R1R13R19R52.

What reviewers actually said

Built only from these 120 real reviews (foreign ones translated). Superscripts jump to the quote here. Apple has no per-review links, so [ref] opens that app's reviews on the App Store.

  1. [R5] Google Photos 5/5 · US Very cool!: I love how they make videos for you , very cool! keep up the great work!
  2. [R6] Google Photos 3/5 · US Good at one thing. And only that.: I’ve been using Google Photos for years. At its core, it’s great. It backs up my photos without my having to do anything. But that’s on one account. I have multiple Google accounts that I use regularly. The Google Photos app is only useful with the account I back up to. And here’s why. I can’t filter between backed up and non-backed up photos. The Google Photos
  3. [R11] Google Photos 5/5 · US Awesome: Thank you for your help selecting special people, events and places and sharing with me.
  4. [R15] Google Photos 3/5 · US photo grid update: Myself and so many other users of google photos who I know, HATE, the new main photo grid. There is no need to have Recent moments, cinematics (which i turned off but still get), videos, and people and pets show up. there is literally a separate tab for that i can go to i don’t need it getting in the way of trying to find what i’m actually looking for in my photos. it’s large an
  5. [R1] Google Photos 1/5 · US Nosy and not worth it: Wanted to upload my photos to a shared album on this app from a work team bonding event. It was a really fun day and I wanted to contribute. If I could select certain photos from my library I would’ve done just that and have a neutral to positive experience on this app. But no, I spent many minutes of my life poking around the app, not knowing why the selected photos I chose
  6. [R7] Google Photos 1/5 · US 🚨 🚨 BLOATED app size approaching HALF a GIGABYTE, spams notifications ⛔️: Google Photos was 420.5 MBs and growing to… 423.3 MBs… And like all Google apps, the Photos app is well on its way to AN ENTIRE GIGABYTE (see Gmail). 🚨 This is deplorable and comically out of touch while phone prices are increasing and consumers are crunched for storage, and by the way: bandwidth caps and overage costs exis
  7. [R8] Google Photos 5/5 · US Google Photos: I use this app frequently. I haven’t had any problems with storage of my photos. Sometimes quality isn’t that good but overall it’s a good app. I would recommend it to anyone.
  8. [R13] Google Photos 1/5 · US Terrible UX: Which ever PM/Designer decided this should be a UX and it should be this hard to manually upload a photo to google photos should find a new career. This app is borderline unusable if you don’t want to use automatic backup… I want to manually upload a photo from my iphone, no, I don’t want to scroll through my entire google 10k+ google photo collection most of which are not on my iphon
  9. [R3] Google Photos 3/5 · US Photos won’t delete: I have been a longtime Google Photos user. We’re talking years!!! In the past 6 months I have noticed when I press delete on photos, it doesn’t actually delete. I will have to delete the same photo 3x sometimes Prior to it actually deleting and stop taking up my storage quota. Also, now that it’s not free, there’s little difference between paying here and paying for extra iClo
  10. [R9] Google Photos 3/5 · US Bring back MONTHLY VIEW!!: May 1, 2026: I WANT OFF THIS ISLAND!! These updates are seriously getting worse with EVERY update since changing and removing the monthly layout! July 4th: The updates are steady getting worse! Google Photos literally stopped working for me on July 3rd. It started freezing and not opening all the way. Multiple phone reboots did nothing. I hesitated but gave in and upda
  11. [R10] Google Photos 1/5 · US Never uploads correctly: I imagine this product works well on Android, but on iOS it has been a complete mess for sometime. Images will not upload even when you leave your phone open, you cannot remove images from albums, images disappear from albums, and the list goes on. Fire these PMs and start over from scratch.
  12. [R12] Google Photos 3/5 · US Performance is horrible: I used to love this app and am married to it because all my photos from over the years are in it. However, the last year or two the performance has continued to deteriorate. The app is so impossibly slow and sometimes doesn’t load at all. Hoping to amend this review if updates are finally made, but I’m tired of waiting and hoping.
  13. [R4] Google Photos 1/5 · US shady practice: This app keeps tricking me into enabling photo backup, forcing me to buy more space without understanding how I ran out in the first place. I just had to spend an hour undoing it manually because I’m worried the bulk undo option will erase photos I manually added to shared albums. You have lost my trust and I will be migrating to a different app.
  14. [R37] Google Photos 1/5 · US Took up all my Google storage, and I cannot unlink it from my Google account: I don’t even remember creating a Google Photos account and linking it to my iPhone camera roll, but somehow it has access to every single photo and video, and is taking up all my Google storage. I never use this app for anything, but there is no way to unlink it to free up more storage for my Google account (Gmail, drive
  15. [R55] Google Photos 1/5 · US Stolen photos - unable to delete: I downloaded Google Photos to upload photos to a friend’s wedding album. I did not turn on backups from my device and it stole every photo from my iPhone library and had the GALL to request money for “too much storage” without giving me the option to delete all the photos. It would take me hours to do this manually, and thus cannot access my Google budget without
  16. [R16] Google Photos 2/5 · US Deletes photos from your device.: Update to review: I got a response from the developer with links about my issues and how to resolve it, and typical of developers they did not read my review. They skimmed it to look for key words or used an AI to "read" it. The link they gave me was what I suggested in my review to new users. I had already read through their help section and it is the same as th
  17. [R70] Google 1/5 · US Broken tab management: The AI/Gemini interface inside the Google App completely breaks basic tab management. When I click the "New Tab" button while inside an active AI thread, it fails to open a separate, additional tab. Instead, it completely ignores the command and overwrites my current thread. This destroys my active research progress and pollutes the AI's context window with unrelated questio
  18. [R82] Google 1/5 · US Why are the features I used now just an AI Mode button?: I use the Google app for just two things, reverse image search and translation. I can sort of get to the reverse image search if I’m ok with Google having camera access, but the translate button is gone, presumably to make room for the very unwelcome AI Mode button. There may be a setting to change this, but it’s not clear in the settings, a
  19. [R97] Google 1/5 · US Your AI sucks: Do you ever find yourself with a question racking your brain that you just have to talk out and do you ever find yourself while talking desperately desiring for the AI you’re talking to to just mute you and stop listening delete the whole conversation you were having and start from the ground up if that’s the case, then Google AI is for you outside of a two sentence question you’ll
  20. [R119] Google 1/5 · US I’m so done with their stupid AI mode: You can’t even search up an image and have text without it, dragging you to the AI mode and then Google becomes unresponsive the hallucinations the AI have make it useless I never find anything useful on Google it’s not even a good company because they do shady stuff I don’t recommend downloading and they’re going to try to hide this
  21. [R19] Google Photos 1/5 · US Won’t work unless you give Google access to all your photos: Do you want to add a few photos from vacation to a friend’s share Google photo album? Well, forget it, this app will not let you access and share a few photos, it wants every single photo on your phone. The app claims to allow “limited access” but you can punch that button all day, it won’t work. Then, once you allow “full access,” and h
  22. [R52] Google Photos 1/5 · US Typical predatory behavior from google: You cant just select a subset of photos to share. This app will only work if you share everything (full access) from your phone. I’m already migrating to a personal photo server than use these horrible data pirates

Synthesized from 120 recent App Store reviews · updated July 2026 · View on the App Store