Set up partner sharing

You can share photos of specific people or share photos from a specific date onward. Photos will be shared automatically as they're backed up to your account.

Important: Sharing photos of specific people isn’t available in all geographic regions.

Before you get started

Download and install the Google Photos app.

Share your photos with a partner

When you share with your partner, they will receive the photos you’ve chosen to share as soon as they're backed up. Once your partner accepts your invitation for partner sharing, they can choose to use partner sharing to share their photos back with you.

Important: Anything you do to your version of a shared photo won’t apply to any copies already saved by your partner. This includes any edits, deletions, or transfers to your Locked Folder. Learn more about Locked Folder.

1. On your Android device, open the Google Photos app .
2. At the top, tap your account Profile picture or Initial Photos settings.
3. Tap Sharing Partner sharing.
4. Select a starting date:
   • All time: You can share all photos.
   • Since specific date: Any photos whose dates come after the selected date are shared. Learn more about filtering by date.
5. Choose photos to share:

   Tip: Photos from other apps on Android aren't shared with your partner account.

   • All photos.
   • Only photos containing selected people: You can select one or more face groups to share. Photos that match any of the selected face groups are shared. Learn more about filtering by face groups.
6. To invite your partner, tap Select partner.
   • You can only invite someone with a Google Account.
7. If everything’s right, tap Confirm.
8. Optional: To find your partner’s photos, ask them to share their photos with you after they’ve accepted your invitation.

Tip: You can use partner sharing with one person at a time. To partner share with someone else, or receive an invitation from a different person, stop sharing with your current partner.

Filter by face groups

Face Groups isn’t perfect. Filtering by face groups may result in occasionally sharing photos that don’t actually have any of the people you’ve selected.

Important: This feature isn't available in all countries and regions.

Filter by date

Sometimes, the date of the photo might be wrong. For example, if the photo was scanned, or the camera's clock wasn’t set correctly, a photo might have the wrong date. Filtering by date might result in occasionally sharing photos that aren’t within the date range chosen.

Accept a partner sharing invitation

1. On your Android device, open the Google Photos app .
2. Sign in with the Google Account that was invited.
3. At the top, tap your account Profile picture or Initial Photos settings.
4. Tap Sharing Partner sharing.
5. Tap the invitation you want to accept Accept.
6. You'll be asked to share back with your partner. You can skip this step if you want.
   • Once you share back with your partner, they'll receive the photos you’ve chosen to share straight away.

Tip: If someone you don't know starts partner sharing with you, you can block them after accepting the invite. Learn how to block a person.

Find your partner’s photos

1. On your Android device, open the Google Photos app .
2. At the top, tap your account Profile picture or Initial Photos settings.
3. Tap Sharing Partner sharing.
4. Tap your partner's name.

Save your partner's photos

If you save your partner’s photos, they appear in your Google Photos account, photos view, search results, and Memories.

The photos and videos you save from partner sharing won’t count against your storage, as long as your partner continues to share them with you through partner sharing.

1. On your Android device, open the Google Photos app .
2. At the top, tap your account Profile picture or Initial Photos settings.
3. Tap Sharing Partner sharing.
4. To change settings, tap Save to your account.
   • All photos: Any photo in the shared library will be saved.
   • Photos of specific people: Select from your face groups. When Google Photos recognizes any of those face groups from your partner’s photos, it saves the photos automatically to your Google Photos account.
5. Tap Done.

If your partner deletes a photo from their Photos account, it's removed from partner sharing. If you save the photo before it's deleted, you can still find it in your Photos library.

Delete photos you recently saved from your partner

If you delete a photo you saved from your partner’s photos, it won’t be deleted from your partner’s account.

1. On your Android device, open the Google Photos app .
   • The Photos feed will have any recently added photos, including photos you’ve saved from your partner.
2. Select the photo you want to delete.
3. Tap Trash .

Turn off notifications

1. On your Android device, open the Google Photos app .
2. Sign in with the Google Account that was invited.
3. At the top, tap your account Profile picture or Initial Photos settings.
4. Tap Sharing Partner sharing.
5. Turn off Notifications.

Remove a partner

If you remove your partner, they won't be able to access the photos that you have shared and you won't be able to access their photos. You and your partner will still be able to find any photos already saved to your Google Photos account. You can always share with a removed partner again. Learn how to save your partner’s photos.

1. On your Android phone or tablet, open the Google Photos app .
2. Sign in with the Google Account that was invited.
3. At the top, tap your account Profile picture or Initial Photos settings.
4. Tap Sharing Partner sharing Remove Partner.

Stop sharing your photos with your partner

1. On your Android device, open the Google Photos app .
2. At the top, tap your account Profile picture or Initial Photos settings.
3. Tap Sharing Partner sharing.
4. Tap More Stop sharing your photos.

Remove your partner’s access to a photo

If you remove a photo from partner sharing, your partner won’t be able to access that photo within partner sharing. Your partner will still be able to find photos already saved to their Google Photos account.

Important: You can only remove photos that you own.

1. On your Android device, open the Google Photos app .
2. At the top, tap your account Profile picture or Initial Photos settings.
3. Tap Sharing Partner sharing.
4. Tap the photo you would like to remove.
5. At the top, tap More Remove Remove.

Change your partner sharing settings

To change the settings of what photos you're sharing with your partner:

1. On your Android device, open the Google Photos app .
2. Sign in with the Google Account that was invited.
3. At the top, tap your account Profile picture or Initial Photos settings.
4. Tap Sharing Partner sharing.
5. Select [your partner's name] can access.
6. Change the settings you want to change.

Important: Your partner will only receive photos you’ve backed up.

Related resources

• Share photos & videos
• Get suggestions to share with your contacts