Android's photo picker will now let you pick photos stored in the cloud

18:30 pm (IST): Google is making the new cloud photo picker available to a wider range of Pixel and Android users now.

Original article from February 15 follows:

Android’s photo picker will now let you pick photos that are stored in cloud services too. For the uninitiated, Google introduced the privacy-focused photo picker with Android 13. The feature lets you grant apps access to select photos or albums rather than letting it access every single photo on the device. And now, to take things further, the photo picker will even let you grant apps access to photos that are stored online.

With this update, your cloud-stored photos (“backed-up photos”) will merge seamlessly with your local media library within the photo picker. You’ll no longer need to juggle different apps to access all your photos. Plus, albums created in your cloud storage app will also be accessible within the photo picker’s albums tab. For convenient access, photos you marked as “favorites” in your cloud app will be prominently displayed. I’ve share a GIF that loads from our Imgur account below:

To no one’s surprise, Google Photos is the first cloud storage provider to support this new functionality. But Android’s updated photo picker opens the door for other qualified cloud media apps to integrate as well. So expect to see support for other cloud storage providers soon, once developers integrate this into their services.

Android’s enhanced photo picker automatically attempts to select a cloud media app for you, but you retain full control to change or remove your selection at any time through the photo picker settings. Importantly, the Android photo picker respects your privacy. No runtime permissions are required, significantly reducing friction around photo sharing.

This feature is rolling out now with the February Google System Update for devices running Android 12 and above. While cloud content access will naturally be limited to Android 12 and higher for users, developers need not worry about device compatibility when implementing the photo picker – it has been backported to Android 4.4 for easy adoption.

You can read more about it on the Android Developer Blog.