Google Photos for Android has a smart display-like widget that lets you easily access your photos and videos. The widget is located on the main screen of your phone, and it looks like a small photo or video thumbnail. You can drag and drop photos and videos into the widget, or paste them into a text editor or email address field. The widget is easy to use, and it works great on phones with large displays. You can also use the widget to keep track of your photos and videos in one place, so you can easily access them when you need them.
Google Assistant-powered Smart Displays can do a lot of powerful things, but people also just love the simple photo frame feature. If you use Google Photos on Android, you can get a similar effect on your home screen.
The photo frame feature on Smart Displays is essentially a screen saver. You choose the Google Photos albums you want to see and it randomly rotates through all the photos. You can get the same feature on Google TV/Android TV devices as well.
The Google Photos app for Android has a widget that acts similarly to the Smart Display photo frame feature. However, you can’t choose the albums you want to see. The photos are pulled from the “Your Memories” row at the top of the app.
To add the widget to your home screen, tap and hold your finger on a blank space on the home screen.
Select “Widgets” from the menu. This may look slightly different depending on your device.
Scroll through the list of widgets and look for the “Photos.” The widget is called “Your Memories.” Tap and hold the widget, then drag it around your home screen. Release your finger to drop it.
After the widget is placed, most home screen launchers will allow you to resize it. Tap and hold the widget to bring up the resizing handles.
That’s all there is to it. The widget shows the title of the Memory it’s pulling the photo from, such as “This Week 1 Year Ago,” or the date the photo was taken. It’s a great way to see your Google Photos without committing to one as your wallpaper.
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