It is common knowledge that Google analyzes your Google Photos content to show you ads that better match your interests. While some might accept this, others find it intrusive enough to want to take action.
Technically speaking, you cannot delete a Google Photos account or the Google Photos app from your device without losing all other Google account functionality. There are more details below. This configuration is a way for Google to keep control over you!
Depending on the level of your concern, there are several ways to fix your Google Photos issue. But, before proceeding, it is essential to determine why you might want to delete your Photos account in the first place. This step ensures that you don't delete your Google Photos account if you don't need it.
Why remove Google Photos?
One of the common reasons people want to delete their Google Photos account is because they are running out of cloud storage space. Deleting all their photos seems like a great way to fix this problem.
Another common and increasingly important reason relates to security and privacy. Many people don't feel comfortable sharing their photos on a cloud storage service that hackers can attack and Google can scan to serve ads of interest, among other uses.
Why not delete Google Photos
If space limitations make you want to delete your Google Photos account, you can optimize it by changing Google Photo's quality from "Original" to "Storage Saver" (formerly known as "High Quality").
If you don't want Google Photos to receive pictures from your phone, turn off syncing.
Suppose you like to use the Gallery app on your phone to manage your photos. In this case, you can completely remove Google Photos from your device rather than deleting the Google account from your phone, which would disable all other Google functions for said account.
Delete Google Photos account on device using Android
In this process, you are not deleting the app but deleting your account from it. There's no way to completely delete an account from Photos without losing everything else connected to Google. However, you can disable syncing, and all photos and images uploaded through Google Photos will remain in the cloud, but new won't go there. Additionally, you can remove Google Photos as long as no account is currently signed in, then you can use your phone's default image viewer instead.
- Start the « Google Photos » Android app, then tap your "profile icon" in the top right section.
- Select your currently active profile.
- To choose “Use without an account. »
After completing the above steps, you have successfully removed your account from Google Photos and it will become a standard offline image viewer for your Android phone unless you decide to uninstall it. Of course, your cloud stay if you ever want to see stored images in your Google Photos account.
Delete Google Photos Account on iPhone
Like Android devices, iPhones also use Google Photos as an offline viewer when deleting your Photos account, and any previously synced images remain on the cloud app. Since there is no way to delete your Google Photos account, you can untie it from the Google Photos app on your iPhone.
- Open « Google Photos » on your iPhone.
- Select your profile icon, which is in the top right section.
- Choose your profile and press “Use without an account. »
Now, your Google account is not connected to Photos, so the app serves as a simple offline image viewer. Note that the accounts still appear in Google Photos, but you aren't signed into any of them, so you can uninstall the app if you want. Of course your the cloud remains if you ever want to see stored images in your Google Photos account.
Remove Google Photos app from PC
The PC version of Google Photos is different from the Android and iOS apps because it is not an Android-based device. If you delete the app, your existing cloud-stored images remain in the cloud for viewing at any time. Furthermore, PC app is actually Google Drive which offers Google Photos for image backups only. As a result, deleting the app will not delete cloud images, including those you synced through Windows.
- Launch " Settings " from the "Windows Start Menu".
- Click on « Applications. »
- Select « Google Drive, » then click “Uninstall. »
- Click on "Uninstall" once again in the Windows confirmation pop-up window.
- Select "Uninstall" in the Google Drive pop-up window.
- Click on " Close " in the Google Drive pop-up window after the uninstallation is complete.
Completely delete your Google account
There is no way to completely delete your Google Photos account, but you can delete the app from your devices, and you can also delete everything in it to protect your privacy. The closest thing to erasing your Google Photos account is to delete all data in the cloud and delete all connected Google accounts.
Now that you know how to control Google Photos, you can easily manage the level of your involvement with the service or remove your Google accounts from it. While it's nice to keep a backup of your photos somewhere in the cloud, you might disagree that Google Photos is the best service for the job. Plus, there are plenty of alternatives to explore.
Have you managed to configure your access to Google Photos to your liking? Which option suits you best? Please share your experiences in the comments section below.
