# Am I missing something about Google Photos? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 11, 2016, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-missing-something-about-google-photos/742839 "2016-01-11T18:55:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2016, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-missing-something-about-google-photos/742839/1 "2016-01-11T18:55:14Z")
I created an album that Google tells me will be visible to anybody, signed in or not, regardless of whether they even have a google account. [This is it](https://goo.gl/photos/StQmn9CGhKgwHAtVA). Can you see it? I imagined that I could send a link from any pic in that album and anyone could look at that pic. But apparently not – [Can you see this picture](https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipPr_gEtMuFQoMmljiWCVMOGujX_T3S1eOhlOEUsnczQv3ZqWYLMIAPtBcKt92BO3w/photo/AF1QipMXPT6C1bqmsxwlsXLw2Lh1euE3uNGVcAx6Os6K?key=NDRMa2pvVmxLS3k2SHhmLVNaZ1lpNUpWMTZrdWx3)? I got complaints in another thread that the link won’t work. In order to send a link to a random person a picture that they can see, what do I have to do? Create an album with just the one picture in it, and make the album public? Or what? Can I do something to an individual pic after uploading but before even putting it into an album? I can’t see any options to do so. ---
**Author:** ![AlsoNamedBort](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alsonamedbort/32/3213_2.png) [@AlsoNamedBort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlsoNamedBort)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2016, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-missing-something-about-google-photos/742839/2 "2016-01-11T18:56:54Z")
I can see both links. I logged out of my Google account, and I can still see them. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2016, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-missing-something-about-google-photos/742839/3 "2016-01-11T19:00:42Z")
Now I’m doubly confused. ---
**Author:** ![Mr\_Shine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr_shine/32/464_2.png) [@Mr\_Shine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Shine)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2016, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-missing-something-about-google-photos/742839/4 "2016-01-11T19:02:06Z")
I don’t have a Google account, can see both fine. ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2016, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-missing-something-about-google-photos/742839/5 "2016-01-11T19:19:21Z")
Me too ---
**Author:** ![LionelHutz405](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lionelhutz405/32/536_2.png) [@LionelHutz405](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LionelHutz405)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2016, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-missing-something-about-google-photos/742839/6 "2016-01-11T19:37:03Z")
Me three. ---
**Author:** ![OldGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/3bc359/32.png) [@OldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldGuy)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2016, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-missing-something-about-google-photos/742839/7 "2016-01-11T19:42:03Z")
I do have a Google account and can see them as well. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2016, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-missing-something-about-google-photos/742839/8 "2016-01-11T19:45:38Z")
> [@LionelHutz405](#): > > Me three. Once a goodie, always a goodie. ---
**Author:** ![AlsoNamedBort](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alsonamedbort/32/3213_2.png) [@AlsoNamedBort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlsoNamedBort)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2016, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-missing-something-about-google-photos/742839/9 "2016-01-11T19:49:21Z")
I checked your other post and I got 404 errors on both links. The URL style doesn’t match the one from this post: [https://photos.google.com/photo/](https://photos.google.com/photo/)(photo code) vs [https://photos.google.com/share/](https://photos.google.com/share/)(photo code) ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2016, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-missing-something-about-google-photos/742839/10 "2016-01-12T14:33:03Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > I created an album that Google tells me will be visible to anybody, signed in or not, regardless of whether they even have a google account. > > [This is it](https://goo.gl/photos/StQmn9CGhKgwHAtVA). Can you see it? > > I imagined that I could send a link from any pic in that album and anyone could look at that pic. But apparently not – [Can you see this picture](https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipPr_gEtMuFQoMmljiWCVMOGujX_T3S1eOhlOEUsnczQv3ZqWYLMIAPtBcKt92BO3w/photo/AF1QipMXPT6C1bqmsxwlsXLw2Lh1euE3uNGVcAx6Os6K?key=NDRMa2pvVmxLS3k2SHhmLVNaZ1lpNUpWMTZrdWx3)? Yes. Nice sundog. 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2016, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-missing-something-about-google-photos/742839/11 "2016-01-12T15:41:21Z")
Clicking takes me to photos also, but > [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > URL= https:// > photos.google. > com/share/AF1QipPr\_gEtMuFQoMmljiWCVMOGujX\_T3S1eOhlOEUsnczQv3ZqWYLMIAPtBcKt92BO3w/ > photo/AF1QipMXPT6C1bqmsxwlsXLw2Lh1euE3uNGVcAx6Os6K > ?key=NDRMa2pvVmxLS3k2SHhmLVNaZ1lpNUpWMTZrdWx3 > > Can you see this picture? I got complaints in another thread that the link won’t work. Rather a bizarre overly-long URL dontcha think? Quicktopic maintains security with a 12-character “PIN,” but your Google URL has over 150 characters of obfuscation. (What problem is Google trying to solve?) Could the “key=” have been dropped by some? ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2016, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-missing-something-about-google-photos/742839/12 "2016-01-13T02:46:28Z")
> [@LionelHutz405](#): > > Me three. Add me to the list.