Google Photos is one of the best ways to save private photos and videos online, and it's possible to share with another person, but sometimes it makes more sense to simply merge accounts for easier access. While there isn't a one-click option to do this, it is relatively easy to combine pictures and videos from two or more Google Photos accounts, and that just takes a few steps.
Google Photos is an excellent choice for storing videos and photos in the cloud, protecting those memories from possible loss compared to keeping them backed up on a hard drive which is more likely to fail over time. Google maintains a vast amount of infrastructure to ensure reliable storage and connectivity, powering a significant portion of the internet. That means gigabytes, even terabytes of media backups, are safe and easily accessible with the power of Google Photos' advanced search capabilities.
It's possible to merge Google Photos accounts and only takes a few steps and a bit of patience. While users can combine only two accounts at a time, the same sequence can be repeated to merge more. To begin the process, the user should set up partner sharing from the secondary account that will be merged into the other primary account. In Google Photos settings, the sharing section will show an option to send an invitation to start sharing with the other person. After accepting the invitation, an option to save all photos or photos of specific people will appear in the partner sharing settings. By enabling either, those photos and videos from the secondary will be copied into the primary account, an excellent option provided by Google. However, it's important to note that storage will be affected. It might take a few days for everything to be copied over, so nothing should be removed from the secondary account, at least for a week or more, to make sure important images and videos aren't lost.
Why Merge Google Photos Accounts
With many years of memories stored in a Google Photos account, searching is critical to finding pictures of a particular moment. Unfortunately, shared photos and videos are not searchable. Instead, the shared tab shows a continuous feed from the person that is sharing, with the newest appearing at the top and older photos and videos often requiring a very long scroll. The answer is to merge one account into another so particular people and dates can be found more easily.
The only downside to combining photos and videos from another account is the increased amount of storage that will be used in Google Photos. For example, 15 gigabytes of space is free, so merging two full accounts would push one up to 30 gigabytes, requiring a paid subscription. Even for subscribers, unexpectedly moving into a new storage tier could be an unwelcome surprise. But, on the other hand, the benefits are worth a little extra expense since suddenly all of those photos and videos can be browsed, searched, and found by date, bringing the best Google Photos experience to a more extensive library of pictures and videos.
Source: Google