Google Photos might soon give you more control over how your photos and videos are backed up

A schedule feature for Google Photos backups has been spotted
At the moment the feature isn’t live in the app
It could give users more say over when backups are able to run

For many users on both Android and iOS, Google Photos will be the app of choice for backing up photos and videos to the cloud, and now it looks as though those users are going to get a bit more control over how backups actually happen.

As spotted by Android Authority, the latest version of Google Photos for Android includes hidden code that points to a revamp for the backup settings page inside the app, to bring it into line with the Expressive UI elements introduced with Android 16.

There’s also a new feature mentioned: a Backup schedule. There’s no information on what this is or how it might work, but it would seem that you’ll be able to choose when your files are synced with the cloud for safekeeping.

Perhaps you’ll be able to run backups on a daily or weekly schedule, for example, or perhaps you’ll be able to specify certain times when backups don’t happen (if you have a limited internet connection, for instance, maybe you would want to pause backups).

Coming soon

Two Android phones on a blue and green background showing the Google Photos AI editor — We’ve seen a few upgrades in Google Photos recently (Image credit: Google)

The way it works at the moment is that when automatic backups are turned on in Google Photos, your photos and videos are then synced whenever there’s an internet connection – though you can set this to only happen on Wi-Fi (not cellular) connections.

That’s really all the customization you get – automatic backup is either on or off (you can run backups manually as well). No doubt power users would welcome a few more options for managing when backups are actually running.

While the code for this is visible inside the Google Photos app if you look carefully, it’s not currently active. It’s not clear when this feature might launch, but if preparations are being put in place, it’s likely to be sooner rather than later.

Presumably, Google will give us some more information when this goes live as well. In the meantime, look out for updates to the look of the backup settings page in Google Photos for Android – changes are on the way.

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