Google Photos could push forward with its confusing redesign

Google Photos has been planning a redesign of the Library tab for more than two years now. After initially announcing an updated version of the Library tab in April 2022, Google Photos had to eventually halt the rollout following widespread backlash. But that appeared to be on course to change last month, as the app began testing a brand-new Collections tab to replace Library, among other changes. It now looks like more users are seeing this change on the Photos app, and not everybody is happy.

A Pixel 6 Pro user on Reddit appears to be quite frustrated with this redesign, which brings back some of the folders that were previously situated in the Search tab (via 9to5Google). While the user’s frustration revolves around the inability to remove some of these auto-generated albums from view — which, as far as we can tell, isn’t possible right now — the wider visibility of this Collections tab shows that Google is slowly leaning towards making this official.

A rather confusing reorganization

The current Library tab on Google Photos, alongside the upcoming Collections tab and the new On this device folder

Screenshots originally published by 9to5Google last month show the breadth of the changes, particularly when compared side-by-side with the existing Library tab. In addition to bringing some of the elements previously stowed away in the Search tab to the Collections tab, this redesign also removes the Photos on device carousel, as 9to5 points out, but retains the Favorites, Utilities, Archive, and Trash shortcuts below the header.

This is followed by cards for People & pets, On this device, Albums, Documents, and Places. Scrolling to the bottom of the page reportedly reveals cards for Screenshots, Videos, and Recently Added, as per 9to5Google’s report from April, though we can’t see them in these images. The On this device folder contains all the locally stored photos/videos, categorized based on the app or service they were picked up from. Users here can choose between a regular grid view or the more efficient list view.

It’s hard to understand the reasoning behind these changes, considering how it relocates some folders from the Search tab into the new Collections tab, potentially making some folders harder to find. But the fact that Google Photos hasn’t yet made this redesign widely available to all users or even put out an announcement, suggests that it’s not yet ready for prime time.

What do you make of this Collections tab?