Google Photos adds Ask Photos easy toggle to switch back to Classic Search, nifty date shortcut included

Google Photos’ product lead, Shimrit Ben-Yair, took to X to announce that the Google Photos app is getting a new toggle that lets users pick between Ask Photos and the original Classic Search experience.

For those unaware, Ask Photos is a Gemini-powered AI search experience that was first introduced at I/O 2024. Much like other AI features added to apps lately, Ask Photos has had a rough reception since day one.

Google even had to pause the wider rollout in June 2025 due to complaints about it being slow. The company then relaunched it a couple of weeks later with some speed improvements, which were made possible by utilizing the Classic Search for simple queries while Gemini handled the more tricky stuff in the background.

Before this, users had to dig through the Settings to switch back to the Classic Search. Now the option sits right in the search results page, making it easier for users to turn it on and off to speed up their searches when Ask Photos isn’t required.

Ben-Yair also added that the search quality has improved for popular categories like pets, clothing colors, and specific objects. This should make it useful for more users who might have previously been unimpressed by the results. Either way, Google will likely continue to refine its model to get even better at bringing up the correct images with each search.

Other than the toggle, Ben-Yair also confirmed that the team is rolling out an option to see more photos from a particular date when using search in Google Photos. 

I tested the date shortcut on my device, and it is already live. When you search for a photo, you will see a downward arrow next to the date header. Tapping on that arrow expands the view to show all photos grouped under that date. Plus, if you tap on a searched photo, you should see the date and year at the top, which you can tap to see other photos from that date.

The toggle itself has not shown up on my device yet. Ben-Yair did mention that the feature is still mid-rollout, and another user on X reported not seeing it on Google Photos v7.65 on a Pixel 10, so availability is patchy for now. This is a server-side release, not an app update, so there is nothing to install while waiting for it to show up.

Google has not given a timeline for the full public release, but server-side rollouts like this usually wrap up within a few weeks. So just keep an eye out for the toggle when you use the search feature in the app.

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