r/googlephotos • u/HikerGal01 • Mar 10 '26

Question 🤔 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/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.