Google camera requires Google photos, is there any workaround?
I hate Google photos because I feel it’s too invasive with that cloud backup that you never really know if a photo is online or on device, so I disabled it in my Google Pixel.
Now Google camera is broken, says it can’t show previews until I enable Google photos again.
Is there any workaround? Tried with many other galleries, but seems it’s hard coded to Google photos…
This post confuses me. You can log out of google photos. You in no way need to link it to your account and you aren’t forced to upload your pics to the cloud. Am I missing something here?
The pics were already uploaded to the cloud, but once you delete from cloud, they get deleted from the phone automatically. I want to keep them instead
I’m so confused. Sorry. Can’t you just unlink your account from photos and then delete them from cloud on desktop? I am currently using photos without an account and have never had an issue like this. And I HATE things that make you use accounts.
No it doesn’t. I mean maybe initially but just log out! I mean by all means keep it disabled. Do whatever you want. But there is an easy solution for your issue and it involves literally like 2 clicks. Sorry if i am misunderstanding the issue.
the issue is that i want to delete all the photos that i uploaded before 2021 on the website, but at the same time i don’t want to delete them locally from the phone (delete from web = delete from all the devices)
If you’d like them out of Google, but still on your phone:
You can use Google takeout to download all of your photos. Then delete them from Google, and copy the images you downloaded back to your phone manually. Finally, use a gallery app that can access files stored anywhere on the file system to view them (Simple Gallery seems to work pretty well - it should automatically find the images regardless of which folder you stick them in).
Good god. Why is Google trying to act like Apple now? I had no idea they were building such a gross walled garden. Thank you for giving OP a way out and warning the rest of us what kind of trap the Pixel has become.
Leaving this one up but just a reminder about rule 2 and we ask that questions of this kind be submitted to !askandroid. Thanks!
Also a reminder for others to subscribe there, so we can ensure a dedicated space for those seeking help while maintaining the essence of what made /r/Android enjoyable for everyone :)
Best thing I can come up with is use a third party camera app, like Simple Camera. Since Google decided to hard-code this into the app, this is your only option aside from using really inconvenient solutions
You can disable Google Photos, but as you’ve learned, you won’t be able to preview the photo you just took in the camera app (i.e., pressing the thumbnail on the circle on the bottom right).
From what I can tell, your 2 options are to complete disable Google Photos but then accept the limitation that you’ll have to use a 3rd party gallery app to view your photos. However, this is an inconvenience and adds friction, as it will be a multi-step process to quit the camera app and go into another gallery app just to view your photos. I personally just disable the Google Photos back up and use Immich in parallel.
The other option is to unfortunately use a different camera app. But, most people will get Google pixels for Google’s software processing in their photos, so this is the less likely option for people, in my opinion.
One more thing I should add. If you can’t find any solutions but are okay with the Google Photos UI, I would recommend you install NetGuard (the FOSS version not the Google Play version) which allows you to apply network firewalls and block internet access for any app that you wish. You could use that for Google Photos but also more applications that don’t exactly need internet access other than harvest data and sell ads.
I have it installed on my Pixel running GrapheneOS and it works great. Not sure if you are running a custom ROM or not; I am assuming on stock Android, the phone does not let you uninstall Google Photos? If that is the case then I think you are out of luck as the Google Photos thing is hard coded into GCam.
Nope, other then try a different Camera app. That’s why I keep two installed and have to manually go into gallery. Yes, it’s extremely annoying and against Google’s own design decisions.
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