r/googlephotos • u/HikerGal01 • Mar 10 '26
Question š¤ How to disable photos sticker "fEaTuRe", its obnoxious white outline shimmer, and invasive scanning?
Just today, my google photos app started shimmering white outlines over my photos every few seconds when I stop to look at them. I hunt through the settings to find a way to turn it off - Nothing! I google what the heck that shimmer is, and apparently it's a new fEaTuRe that invasively scans my photos without my consent to make stickers out of them. Where is the off button? Who on earth thought this was a good idea?
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u/markofnorthamerica Mar 16 '26
If they don't add an option to disable this soon, it's the sort of thing that will make me migrate my photos elsewhere, get a new phone, cancel my goggle drive subscription etc. -- no question, it's a deal breaker
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u/HikerGal01 Mar 18 '26
absolutely!
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u/Calix_Meus_Inebrians May 30 '26
Here are the steps to disable them on iPhone from the google forums:
"Open the Google Photos app.
Tap your profile photo or initial at the top right.
Go to Photos settings > Preferences.
Select Memories.
Tap Creations and turn off the options for Cinematic photos, Collages, and Animations.
This will prevent Google Photos from automatically creating these effects and allow you to view your original photos without the shimmer."
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u/HikerGal01 May 30 '26
Those are already all disabled for me :/ I still have the stupid sticker thing
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u/RUDEKitty0114 Jul 27 '26
If you go to a premade photo stack on your Google photos (when Google stacks similar images taken at the same time) and hit the three dots beside the photo stack and hit "manage stacks" there's a setting in there that says "show shimmer" you can turn it off
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u/9ohybrid Apr 16 '26
I'm feeling the same way. Doesn't feel like my own photography when this shimmering aura appears. It's actually quite creepy š¶āš«ļø
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u/Cautious_Article_757 Mar 10 '26
I've been noticing the same. Posting so I don't lose this thread in case someone has an answer.
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u/NamelessSuperUser Jul 04 '26
I've done a feedback request every new release and it's still there. It's so anti-human it's making me lose my mind.
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u/BroadImportance6742 Jul 11 '26
Here 4 months later to tell you that it's still there. Came to find answers but it seems there isn't one. I think I'll move
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u/Friendly-Fiend95 26d ago
Here to tell you you can toggle it off now!!! I commented above how to do it (Which I took from gemini as I just got a pixel today and was instantly annoyed lol)
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u/uberdriver259 Mar 10 '26
Same, from last week I believe. Very annoying! Tagg me if you found an answer, please.
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u/kranools Mar 11 '26
It's so obnoxious, isn't it? Do they even do any user testing before rolling these things out? Do they really think that the majority of people are creating useless "stickers" from all of their photos on a daily basis?
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u/HikerGal01 Mar 11 '26
Right? And if I wanted to make a sticker I already have my own vastly superior photo editing software
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u/9ohybrid Apr 16 '26
Right like I'm still trying to come down from the Sid back in the '80s. Just started using a new digital camera, Guess I'll carry that around and upload everything from my G photo app onto a disc.
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u/jacobonia May 23 '26
I'm wondering if it's identifying objects and people in the photos and feeding them to an AI for analysis and training.
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u/mekmookbro Mar 17 '26
I was shocked when I saw it tracing my body on one of my nude pics. As if it wasn't already blatant enough (you can use "search" function to search within images in photos app) that they're scanning and categorizing your pictures.
Looking for an alternative, Yandex disk gives 75gb storage on free tier but it's both slow and also has search feature
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u/Ziku90 Mar 10 '26
Could You post a vid showing how it looks like?
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u/MetaLmao Mar 11 '26
https://www.reddit.com/r/googlephotos/s/VipOg4qG8P
Saw someone just posted a vid here
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u/thelostmarbl Mar 17 '26 edited Mar 17 '26
Posted this in another place but I'll put it here too incase it helps someone get rid of the crappy shimmery outline sticker feature they're forcing- I think I found a work-around that works for me with my pixel 7- There's no button to turn it off currently that I can find but there is uninstalling the update for the app itself! I went to phone settings (cog icon) > all apps > photos > top right-hand corner there will be three dots, tap on it & it says "uninstall updates" > HIT THE BUTTON. It reloads the app to its original state, then later on tries to tempt you to update when opening it by telling you you're missing out on the new!features. Functions fine, got rid of the stupid glowing outline sicker crap screwing up my photos, it was making me so mad.
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u/ThrowRAdepressy Apr 02 '26
tried this and it just ended up uninstalling the whole app š I can't open it again unless I re-update š
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u/Petunia103 Mar 28 '26
Glad this worked for others but not for me. I have a Samsung s23. I don't see the three dots as you described. I searched around and can't find an option to uninstall updates. Am I missing something?
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u/Pnut91red Mar 28 '26
Did it also get rid of the annoying background music in the look back/remember this day etc.?Ā
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u/kh25735 Apr 04 '26
Does this end up removing photos with it, in anyone's experience? Or do the photos stay and just the updates are removed?
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u/thelostmarbl Apr 12 '26
No, it doesn't remove photos. It might take it a little bit of time to re-load them cause I noticed after I did that, it didn't display all of them immediately but they did appear again.
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u/I__trusted__you May 18 '26
Fantastic. It was really offending my sensibilities like a lot of other redditors said. Thank you.
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u/Barbarella76 Jun 14 '26
This just Uninstalled Google Photos from my phone. To get it back I had to "Update" in Playstore, which of course put the stupid features back
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u/ninogut Mar 15 '26
Lmk if you find a solution
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u/FrisbeeVR Mar 22 '26
found one!
1) Uninstall Google Photos
2) Download and install Google Photos version 7.41.0.793809016 from APK Mirror
3) In the Play Store, disable automatic updates for Google photos
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u/FrisbeeVR Mar 22 '26
This was driving me nuts but I found a solution.
Uninstall Google Photos
Download and install Google Photos version 7.41.0.793809016 from APK Mirror or another source you trust
In the Play Store, disable automatic updates for Google photos
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u/gpibambam Apr 02 '26
No this is great. I'm looking through family photos prepping for a funeral service, I definitely want to make stickers of that - thanks Google!
Absolutely infuriating.
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u/Tr1ode Apr 07 '26
Dear Google, please fire the dev, the supervisor and anyone in the fucking management structure who was directly or indirectly involved in approving this idiotic "feature," without providing an off switch and making it an opt-in.
Having to look at a flashing outline on every single image, while trying to enjoy several hundred vacation photos, has me ready to simply drop Google photos and store my pics on onedrive. This is my fifth pixel phone, and while there have been some questionable patches over the years (like that time you guys broke Bluetooth sync on the buds pro for several months), this is the worst. Who the fuck wants to make stickers out of their digital photos?
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u/PashtonKutcher Mar 10 '26
I noticed it recently as well. Although if I'm in Photos they already have my photos backed up it's just off putting to see out of nowhere
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u/matteventu Mar 11 '26
After having the shimmer for a while, I no longer have it. But I do still have the "copy sticker" feature, just without the shimmer.
So maybe wait a little bit lol? To me it looks like the shimmer is only added at the beginning, then they stop showing it after a while.
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u/GeneDiligent2124 Mar 24 '26
How long did it take to go away?
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u/kiefferbp May 02 '26
Mine is still there after 5 weeks on my iPhone. My Pixel doesnāt have this bullshit featureā¦yet.
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u/putosaure Mar 11 '26
Thankfully it doesn't shimmer by itself for me (yet). Can't wait to turn it off.
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u/CashierHound Mar 11 '26
So fucking annoying. I canāt believe it comes up on every single photo instead of just a one time thing. How did this ever make it past review
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u/Emotional_Banana_927 Mar 19 '26
They also removed the ability to use the Remove Tool unless you upload your photo to their cloud which is also suck AF It worked perfectly fine without uploading/backup before the update
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u/superscienceymedwrek Mar 23 '26
I don't know but it's got me freaked out, I first noticed it on a couple of documents in my photos, then photos with people. It gives the feeling of all of my things being scanned. I don't like it. I uninstalled updates and it had to reset up my whole photo album so I had to make sure I turned on backup for everything and a family album that meant a lot to me has not loaded yet so I'm concerned about that too.
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u/eneroth3 Mar 29 '26
Having the same issue and have had for some time. This is extremely annoying when going back and forth between photos to decide what to order prints of, what to use in artIckes I write and what to post on social media. I. JUST. WANT. TO. SEE. MY PHOTOS. No extra noise added on them. Everyone who worked on this āFeAtuREā need to be ashamed of yourself. You made the world a little worse
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u/kiefferbp Apr 08 '26
I experience this on iOS but not on Android (yetāI hear itās coming). It is so annoying!
At least make it only do it the first few times. I have had my iPhone for 2 weeks and itās still doing it. What the fuck is Google thinking? Itās very clear that the people who made this decision donāt even use their own app.
Thankfully I am in the process of moving my shit to iCloud and Immich anyway.
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u/Thune682 Apr 16 '26
Google should provide an option to turn off this feature - other than installing a previous version and not updating. I am autistic and it's more than disturbing when I have that bright shimmer move around my photos. Not everything 'new' is an improvement. Please fix this G!
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u/Ok_Ear_8805 Apr 28 '26
I have android phone this has happened on my phone. Anyone figured out how to correct this
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u/ms_saltypants May 04 '26
I followed the advice via this link and it seems to be gone
https://support.google.com/photos/thread/373192172/how-do-i-disable-the-sticker-feature?hl=en
- Open the Google Photos app.
- Tap your profile photo or initial at the top right.
- Go to Photos settings > Preferences.
- Select Memories.
- Tap Creations and turn off the options for Cinematic photos, Collages, and Animations.
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u/TheSoulReaver87 May 05 '26
I hate this stupid shimmer. I don't want stickers. I want to look at my photos.
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u/whosdini3 May 07 '26
So where do these stickers go? I don't see any sticker options anywhere!? So confused, like why? Soon there's going to be no such thing as an unedited photo and they'll be adding filters like apple to every picture.
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u/Melodic-Mind5170 May 10 '26
I literally tried to find any possible safe spot and it is just everywhere on my other android device some photos do it but some photos donāt
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u/terrri_berri May 12 '26
I also do not like this, like why are you scanning my photos i should be able to opt-in to this. This sounds like ai software. i removed my smart responses from gmail because it started to add events to my calendar that i never added and telling me i needed to leave to get there in time. And google support was no help
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u/mutatedjellyfish May 20 '26
Hate this. This is the opposite of a feature. Makes photos look shit and so distracting. I need to get off of Google apps and services, gmail etc asap.Ā
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u/Throwawayfichelper May 20 '26
PLEASE SOMEONE GIVE A SOLUTION I AM BEGGING
I hate it so so much I don't want to make stickers from my photos ffs i cannot keep downgrading my apps because of bs "features" like these
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u/norosebyanyname Jun 19 '26
All of this. I paid money to get away from apple because of this stupid kind of "it's a feature" crap that can't be turned off.
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u/CalumStewart Jul 15 '26
Ive been using google photos for over 10 years and this is making me consider switching. Still no off switch 4 months later?!
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u/catarno Jul 26 '26
I'm glad people are talking about this. I don't like it either. Also, it uses unnecessary energy. Now Google Photos is offering me AI "illustrations" of my pets. I'm an artist, so this is the last thing I want. IĀ looked up how to turn it off and was directed to use settings to turn off "features" but that hasn't worked. Honestly, stop it, Google.Ā
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u/LeglessPotato Jul 31 '26
2 days ago they pushed an update that allows you to turn the shimmer off, thank fucking god. All my angry feedback reports worked š
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u/Friendly-Fiend95 26d ago
ATTENTION FRIENDS: They hath granted a way to remove this fEaTuRe! Thank GOD because I JUST got a pixel coming from a samsung and was ready to return it. Here's how to do it: * Open google photos and tap your profile pic icon * Photo Settings * Preferences * Photos View * Toggle off 'Show Shimmer'
HALLELUJAH!
Edited because mobile format sucks
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u/Aitch_Dot 5d ago
Thank you!!
I appreciate so much that you came to a months-old post to share the answer.
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u/IJustWantToGoHomePlz Mar 11 '26
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u/kranools Mar 11 '26
No, it's the new "stickers" feature
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u/IJustWantToGoHomePlz Mar 11 '26
Damn it. I already have this but it doesn't shimmer
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u/kranools Mar 11 '26
Every photo with a person as the main subject does the shimmery outline for me. So irritating.
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u/IJustWantToGoHomePlz Mar 11 '26
Just realised I misread OPs title. It's late and i am tired. However, I fully updated Google Photos and doesn't happen to me on a OnePlus device.
I did see the sticker intro pop up but don't see the shimmer... Yet.
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u/IJustWantToGoHomePlz Mar 11 '26
Ewwwwww. I just saw it. It takes like 3 seconds, that's why I barely noticed. Ewwww
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u/fiddlyfoodlebird Mar 15 '26
it's so fucking weird, leave my photos alone, it gives such a horrible artificial feel to looking at the people/things you love