Google Messages uses Android’s new embedded photo picker

A post on the Android Developers Blog today highlights the “new” embedded photo picker and its use in Google Messages.

Developers can integrate the photo picker into their applications instead of just having a system sheet slide up for a more seamless experience. Overall, this approach “eliminates the need for users to switch between apps or worry about whether the photo they want is stored locally or in the cloud.” On the privacy front, apps don’t need “access to the user’s photos or videos until they actually select something.”

In a Google Messages chat, tapping the gallery icon in the text field brings up the combined camera and embedded photo picker interface. Upon scrolling, the reverse chronological grid of images and videos expands to take up the entire screen, with Messages noting “To [contact]” at the top.

As always, you can “Search Google Photos” and switch to the “Collections” tab for your Favorites, Camera, From this device, From your apps, and other albums/folders.

The Android team also highlights how the embedded photo picker in Messages offers:

• Intuitive placement: The photo picker sits right below the camera button, giving users a clear choice between capturing a new photo or selecting an existing one.
• Dynamic preview: Immediately after a user taps a photo, they see a large preview, making it easy to confirm their selection. If they deselect the photo, the preview disappears, keeping the experience clean and uncluttered.
• Expand for more content: The initial view is simplified, offering easy access to recent photos. However, users can easily expand the photo picker to browse and choose from all photos and videos in their library, including cloud content from Google Photos.
• Respecting user choices: The embedded photo picker only grants access to the specific photos or videos the user selects, meaning they can stop requesting the photo and video permissions altogether. This also saves the Messages [app] from needing to handle situations where users only grant limited access to photos and videos.

Google Messages’ use of the embedded photo picker is a few months old at this point. It’s available on Android 14+ (with SDK Extensions 15+).

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