Google Photos Rolls Out Major Redesign to Android App With Deep Customization for the Collections Tab

Google is continuing to revamp the user experience of its ubiquitous media management platform, rolling out a significant update to Google Photos for Android that brings deep personalization options to the Collections tab. Following the introduction of the floating navigation bar earlier in July, this latest software release shifts focus entirely toward how users organize, view, and prioritize their digital memories, moving away from a rigid, one-size-fits-all layout in favor of a highly configurable interface.

The update, which is widely arriving alongside Google Photos version 7.97, fundamentally transforms the architecture of the Collections tab. For years, the layout has relied on a predetermined structural hierarchy that offered very little room for personal preference. The previous iteration of the tab initiated user interaction with a compact two-by-two grid situated near the top of the screen. In this older design, quick-access shortcuts for Favorites and Trash occupied the upper tier, while the remaining two slots dynamically adjusted based on individual usage patterns and frequency of interaction.

Below that initial grid, the legacy interface presented a series of large, immovable cards dedicated to specific categories such as Albums, On this device, People & pets, Wardrobe, Documents, Places, Stickers, and Moments. For Android users specifically, this card-based section was followed by a more traditional vertical list encompassing Screenshots, Videos, Recently Added, Archive, and Locked items. While functional, the layout often forced users to scroll past categories they rarely utilized to find the media folders they accessed on a daily basis.

The newly deployed redesign addresses these navigation friction points by placing customization at the very core of the Collections tab experience. The most prominent addition in the updated layout is a newly designated section titled “Pinned.” This feature grants users the absolute freedom to curate which specific cards appear at the very top of their screen, ensuring that their most critical folders are always just a tap away. By default, the carousel populates with Favorites, Screenshots, and Trash, establishing a practical baseline for everyday media management. However, users who prefer a cleaner interface are given the flexibility to remove the Pinned section entirely, tailoring the top of the page to their exact aesthetic and functional preferences.

Directly following the Pinned section, the updated interface features horizontal carousels dedicated to the core organizational categories of the application, including On this device, Albums, People & pets, Wardrobe, Places, and Documents. To maintain a streamlined appearance without sacrificing accessibility, Google has integrated a “View all” button in the top-right corner of these sections, allowing users to jump straight to a comprehensive full grid or list view whenever they need to browse an entire category. Furthermore, the redesign introduces granular controls that empower users to completely hide individual sections they rarely use, as well as rearrange the vertical sequence in which these carousels appear on the page.

Rounding out the bottom of the revitalized page is an “Other Collections” grid. This comprehensive section consolidates a wide array of secondary folders and features, housing shortcuts for Favorites, Screenshots, Moments, Videos, Recently Added, Stickers, Creations, Archive, Locked items, and Trash. For those wishing to overhaul the layout further, a dedicated “Reorder” button is prominently positioned at the very bottom of the page, serving as a centralized hub for managing the structural flow of the entire tab.

The rollout of this expansive visual and functional overhaul is currently underway via Google Photos version 7.97. While major interface updates of this nature frequently rely on staggered server-side switches that can take weeks to reach the entire global user base, industry observers and early adopters have noted an unusual method for triggering the update. Rather than relying on the traditional method of force-stopping the application through device settings, users testing the new build have reported success in prompting the server-side activation simply by performing a standard device restart followed by opening the Google Photos application.