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

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.

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.

1. On your iPhone or iPad, open the Google Photos app .
2. Sign in with your Google Account.
3. At the top, tap your account Profile picture or Initial Photos settings.
4. Tap Sharing Partner sharing.
5. Enter or select an email address. You can only invite someone with a Google Account.
6. Select which photos to add to your partner account.

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

   • All photos: You can share all photos.
   • Photos of specific people: You can select one or more face groups to share. Photos that match any of the selected face groups will be shared. Learn more about filtering by face groups.
   • Only show photos since this day: Any photos whose dates come after the selected date will be shared. Learn more about filtering by date.
7. Tap Next.
8. If everything seems right, tap Send invitation.
9. Optional: To see your partner’s photos, ask them to share their photos with you after they’ve accepted your invitation.

To partner share with a different person, or receive an invitation, 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.

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 iPhone or iPad, 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. Optional: You can share your photo library back with your partner. At the top, tap More Share back.

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 iPhone or iPad, open the Google Photos app .
2. Sign in with your Google Account.
3. At the top, tap your account Profile picture or Initial Photos settings.
4. Tap Sharing Partner sharing.
5. 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 iPhone or iPad, open the Google Photos app .
2. Sign in with your Google Account.
3. At the top, tap your account Profile picture or Initial Google Photos settings.
4. Tap Sharing Partner sharing.
5. Tap Save to your photos to change settings.
   • All photos: Your partner’s shared photos 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’ll save the photos automatically to your Google Photos account.

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 iPhone or iPad, open the Google Photos app .
   • This page 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 iPhone or iPad, 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 Google Photos settings.
4. Tap Sharing Partner sharing.
5. Turn off Notifications.

Remove a partner

If you remove your partner, they can't access the photos you shared and you won't be able to access their photos. You and your partner can still 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 iPhone or iPad, open the Google Photos app .
2. Sign in with the Google Account that was invited.
3. Tap your account Profile picture or Initial Google Photos settings.
4. Tap Sharing Partner sharing Remove partner.

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 iPhone or iPad, 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.

Related resources

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