The US Sun reports that Google is warning both iOS and Android users about estimated photo locations. This feature, used with photos stored in the Google Photos app, looks at the background of photos and videos you’ve taken with your phone’s camera and tries to figure out where the picture or video was taken based on landmarks visible in the picture became . While Google no longer uses your location history to find out where you took a photo or recorded a video, it gets around this using other methods. The Google alert appears in the Photos app and says, “Photo locations come from multiple sources, including locations estimated by Google Photos. We no longer use location history to estimate photo locations, but will continue to use other sources when “Estimate missing locations” is turned on.” The alert also asks if you want to keep existing estimated locations or have them removed.
As Google notes, “Selecting ‘Keep’ means you can use existing estimated locations to organize and find photos.” If you decide to delete them, you’ll get a message that says, “Deleting Estimated photo locations based on location history may result in permanent loss of those estimated locations. Your photos will be preserved.”
If you want, turn off Guess missing places on your iOS or Android phone
Estimated photo locations may be enabled by default. To check this, open the Google Photos app and tap on the profile picture in the top right corner of the screen. Tap Photo Settings > Location > Location Sources. There is a toggle for Estimate Missing Locations. If you’re bothered by Google using landmarks in your images to make an educated guess about where you are, make sure this setting is turned off.
You can also edit or remove an estimated location from a picture saved in the Google Photos app by opening the app and tapping the picture or video. Tap the three-dot overflow menu and “Edit” (with the pencil icon). Add or select a location from your recent locations, or tap Remove location to delete a location associated with an image or video. Images that have a location added from your phone’s camera cannot be edited.
You should get this notification in the Google Photos app on iOS and Android
Google Photos users on iOS or Android have the option to keep or remove pre-May 1 estimated locations. If you don’t make a decision by then, Google will automatically remove the existing estimated locations from your Photos app on or after that date.
