<P> In May 2017, Google announced several updates to Google Photos . "Suggested Sharing" reminds users to share captured photos after the fact, and also groups photos based on faces and suggests recipients based on facial recognition . "Shared Libraries" lets two users share a central repository for all photos or specific categories of images . "Photo Books" are physical collections of photos, offered either as softcover or hardcover albums, with Photos automatically suggesting collections based on face, location, trip, or other distinction . Towards the end of the month, Google introduced an "Archive" feature that lets users hide photos from the main timeline view without deleting them . Archived content still appears in relevant albums and in search . In June, the new sharing features announced in May began rolling out to users . </P> <P> Google Photos is the standalone successor to the photo features previously embedded within Google+, the company's social network . Google launched the social network to compete with Facebook, but the service never became as popular and Facebook remained the Internet's preferred website for social networking and photo sharing . Google+, however, offered photo storage and organizational tools that surpassed Facebook's in power, though Google+ lacked the user base to use it . By leaving the social network affiliation, the Photos service changed its association from a sharing platform to a private library platform . </P> <P> On February 12, 2016, Google announced that the Picasa desktop application would be discontinued on March 15, 2016, followed by the closure of the Picasa Web Albums service on May 1, 2016 . Google stated that the primary reason for retiring Picasa was that it wanted to focus its efforts "entirely on a single photo service"; the cross-platform, web - based Google Photos . </P> <P> In October 2015, five months after the launch of the service, Google announced that Google Photos had 100 million users, who had uploaded 3.72 petabytes of photos and videos . </P>

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