How to turn off unwanted “memories” in Apple Photos, Google Photos, and Facebook

The memory machines that Apple, Facebook, and Google have built to remind us of our favorite moments can, like any algorithmic creation, provide below-average output. Instead of evoking memories of those times when we felt like we were living our best life, they can invoke the weak spots in our existence – a miserable job, a bad commute, a bad breakup, or the death of a being. Dear.

Apple Photos, Facebook, and Google Photos provide tools to manage what their “memory” features may give you. But those settings for controlling the images and posts that are algorithmically displayed on your screen aren’t always easy to find, even, in some situations, after those apps have presented a sharp callback.

Here’s how to control, at least in part, the memories you’ll see in each of these apps.

Plant Photos

If you’re using iOS 14, Apple’s implementation of its Memories feature offers less control compared to those offered by the other two companies here. However, once you upgrade to iOS 15 later this year, that should change.

On an iOS 14 device:

• If Photos presents you with a memory you’d rather avoid, long press the video or photo and then tap the “Suggest fewer memories like this” button below the photo… and hope for the best, because iOS 14 doesn’t provide options to exclude certain people or dates from its Memories feature.
• You can also go to the “For You” section of Photos (located at the bottom of your screen), find the photo or video you want to avoid and long press it to get the same menu.
• To prevent Photos from notifying you of new memories, open the Settings app, select “Notifications”> “Photos”> “Memories” and turn off “Allow notifications”.
• If you’ve added the Photos widget to your iPhone’s Home screen, images from your Featured Photos collection may also appear there. To remove one from this list, hold it down until a menu appears, then scroll down and tap “Remove featured photos”.

On an iOS 15 device

The upcoming iOS 15 operating system adds an option to feature a specific person less often in Memories, or to remove that person altogether:

• In the Photos app, tap the Albums icon at the bottom of the screen, and then tap People (under “People & Places”). Select the person whose memories you want to edit.
• Tap the three dots at the top right. You will obtain a contextual menu which will allow you, among other things, to present this person less or completely remove them from the “People” list.
• If you tap on “Show this person less”, you will have two choices: show this person less in Memories or never show them at all.
• If you tap “Remove this person from people,” you’ll be prompted to reset the people album, which will erase it from all names and favorites on all your iCloud-signed in devices.

On a Mac

• Right click on the photo and select “Suggest fewer memories like this” to get fewer reminders.
• To prevent the operating system from notifying you of new memories, go to the Photos menu in the upper left corner of the screen, select “Preferences …” and under the “General” tab, uncheck the box next to it. of “Show Memories notification.” You can also uncheck “Show holiday events” if the holiday photos are a particular irritation to you.

Facebook

The social network took a few months after the launch of its inducer of nostalgia under the name of “On This Day” in 2015 to add the possibility of filtering people or dates. The tool has been developed since then and is now called Memories.

You can use the web app or the mobile app to change your preferences.

Web application

• Select “Memories” in the left column (you may need to click “View more” to find it).
• Click “Hide People” or “Hide Dates” on the left.

Mobile app

• Tap the menu icon at the top right (Android) or bottom right (iOS).
• Tap “Memories,” then tap the gear icon.
• Look under “Hide Memories” and select “People” or “Dates”.

Whether you’re on a mobile device or a desktop, you can now enter the names of any people you don’t want in your memories, or any dates you want to exclude. Note that when typing in a name you can sometimes get public pages or random stranger profiles before you get friend names – at least that was my experience.

One thing you can’t exclude from Memories is the posts of other people who tagged you there. (Think of this paragraph as a feature request, Facebook.)

The Memories settings screens also allow you to adjust how often Facebook notifies you of new Memories: once a day at most, algorithmically selected highlights, or never.

Google Photos

The Memories feature that Google added to Google Photos in 2019 also offers options to hide people (and pets) or dates from your past event notifications that appear in its mobile apps. The Photos web app doesn’t offer these settings because it doesn’t send notifications to your screen.

• On the Google Photos mobile app, tap the account profile photo at the top right.
• Tap “Photos Settings” (on Android) or “Google Photos Settings” (on Apple devices).
• Press “Memories”.
• Tap “Hide people and pets” to remove one of these flashbacks. This will be easier if you’ve already added names to faces that Google Photos recognizes and automatically categorizes. And if Google Photos is missing a photo of someone – say, if it was taken at an odd angle or in low light – it can always resurface in Memories.
• The “Hide dates” tool (also on the “Memories” page) is much simpler. Press “Hide dates” and select the day (s) you want to leave.

To stop Google Photos from notifying you of some or all of the memories:

• Tap the “Notifications” link on the Memories page.
• On the next page, locate the “Memories” section. Here, you can choose not to ask Google Photos to nudge you on today’s memories from previous years or “themed memories” (like “They Grow So Fast” compilations of photos. of my daughter that he somehow knows how to push when a work trip takes me away from my family).