Google Photos teardown points to album face filters and editable 2026 Recap

In version 7.96.0 of Google Photos, Android Authority found strings that describe a "Filter photos by face" action in the album interface. Other strings refer to "People & pets," an unnamed-face filter labeled "Person," and a "Clear filter" option. One string also accounts for multiple active filters, indicating users could select more than one person or pet and see only images containing those faces. Google Photos already groups faces of people and pets and lets users add names in the main library. Users can also search for a person or pet by name to surface photos across the library, but the app does not currently offer the same face-based filtering inside a single album. Such a feature could be useful for large albums filled with group shots, where sorting by one or more named faces is more specific than browsing all images. Android Authority cautioned that code references are early evidence and that it is too early to know how the filter would look in action.

A separate Google Photos teardown suggested that the 2026 Recap could allow users to replace or remove individual photos. The same report said Google appears to be working on customizable music for the Recap, including an option to change the selected track. The new controls may come with limits: duplicate photos could be blocked, and replacement images may need to be backed up first before they can be used. Google Photos began offering a yearly recap in 2024, after Spotify popularized the format in 2013 and other companies adopted yearly recaps beginning in and after 2019. Last year’s Google Photos Recap allowed users to edit memories directly through CapCut and share them. The reported 2026 changes point to more granular editing controls for the annual collection.

Android Authority said the findings came from dissecting the app’s code. If released, the album filter would build on existing face grouping by adding a way to narrow images within an album to selected people and pets. The Recap controls would add photo-level and music-level edits to a feature that previously offered a more limited set of options.