Google's New Feature "Ask Photos" Makes a Comeback! "Conversations with Photos"—Google's Vision for the Future of Next-Generation Search

1. "Ask Photos Returns After 21 Days of Suspension"

Ask Photos, which was launched with much fanfare at the end of May, faced a barrage of complaints on X (formerly Twitter) and Reddit within just a few days, with users saying it was "too slow," "results were off-target," and "the app freezes." On June 3, a halt to the rollout was announced. Jamie Aspinall, the PM in charge of Google Photos, candidly admitted on X that "latency, quality, and UX did not meet standards," and posted that they would "focus on a small group of users for improvements."theverge.comengadget.com.

On June 26, one week later than the "promised two weeks," the restart was announced. The keyword is "Speed." This update includes...

• A "Two-Step Approach" with Classic Search—First, the traditional keyword search delivers results in about 0.3 seconds, while Gemini runs in the background

• Lightweight Optimization of the Gemini Model—Introducing a quantized version compatible with both inference TPU/EdgeTPU

• Visualization of UI Feedback—Ongoing complex searches clearly display the remaining seconds with animation

These improvements are highlighted. Google proudly states on its official blog that simple words like "beach" or "dog" will be returned "Right Now."theverge.com.

2. What Does It Mean for Gemini to Read the "Context" of an Album?

The feature of Gemini lies in its multimodal understanding. It not only considers the subjects, location information, and EXIF timeline of photos but also...

• Faces of companions → Person clusters in Google Photos

• Text within photos → Understanding content with OCR + LLM

• Gmail and Google Calendar information received before and after shooting

By cross-referencing these, it enables highly "situational" searches such as "the scene where my father is tearing up at my brother's wedding last fall." However, such cross-data analysis is precisely the spark for privacy debates.

3. Real Voices from SNS: Enthusiasm, Confusion, and Concerns

Following the reopening, X is filled with positive posts like "Loading time feels 5 times faster!" and "Organizing travel photos in an instant," while technical trouble reports like "Even on Pixel 9 XL, it doesn't switch to Gemini search and reverts to the old search" are also seen. Testers on Reddit /r/GooglePixel...

"Pressing 'Try it' in the email crashes and I can't agree to the terms" —TurningTablesAgainreddit.com
"Gemini search seems to have lower hit accuracy than classic..." —bfplayerreddit.com

are raising their voices, and a thread in /r/privacy heatedly discusses "It's chilling that AI analyzes the entire album."

4. Performance Comparison: Ver.β→Ver.β2

TechCrunch reports that the average response time for simple queries, as independently measured, has been reduced from 1.8 seconds to 0.35 seconds, and complex queries improved from 13 seconds to 7 secondstechcrunch.com. However, it also notes that the latter is "less perceptible to users as re-searching runs in the background."

5. Privacy and Transparency—The "Critical Point" Lies Here

Multiple media, including Dig.watch, point out that even upon re-release, "the scope of metadata sharing and opt-out settings are unclear."dig.watch. Google explains that it has placed "Gemini features in Photos" in the settings screen, which can be disabled with a single tap, but its location is deep: "Settings ▸ Privacy ▸ Photo Settings ▸ Gemini Features." With the EU AI Act about to come into effect, expanding with the default ON could inevitably lead to another backlash.

6. Can Ask Photos Become the Top Runner of "Photo Assistants"?

Apple is planning "Spotlight Memories" for iOS 19 in the fall of 2025, and there are rumors that Samsung is preparing "Galaxy Photo Guide" with One UI 8. For Gemini-equipped Ask Photos to recover from its "initial stumble,"

1. Reduction of False Detection Rates: Errors in subject recognition directly lead to loss of trust

2. Thorough Edge Inference: Increase on-device processing that does not require cloud transmission

3. Transparent Log Disclosure: Provide a dashboard that visualizes search history and analysis data

Implementing "Trust by Design" is key.

7. Conclusion: Ask Photos Has Regained Speed, But What's the Next Challenge?

Ask Photos is indeed faster after its reopening. However, users are simultaneously concerned about "where their photos are analyzed and how they are stored while using a fast search engine." Whether Google, with its powerful brain called Gemini, can achieve a balance between ethics and UX—this update seems to be a litmus test for that.