Google Photos is apparently backing up users' photos even after they uninstall the app, documenting all images they take with their mobile devices.
The digital era has brought about a number of neat advances and convenient options, and one of them is being able to take photos with a smartphone and have them automatically backed up online. This eliminates the need to get all tangled up with cables or waste time manually transferring the images from phone to PC. At the same time, not all users want their photos automatically backed up, and they can choose not to take advantage of this feature. With Google Photos, however, users may think their photos are not backing up when they actually are.
As David Arnott of Bizjournals points out, uninstalling the Google Photos app doesn't mean the photos will no longer sync online with the user's Google account. Arnott explains that he tried out Google Photos when it came out in May as a separate app but ultimately decided to uninstall the app after taking only a couple of test shots. However, Arnott re-installed Google Photos to give it another shot and had an unexpected surprise.
Upon downloading and installing Google Photos again, Arnott expected to see the couple of test shots he took the first time, before uninstalling the app. Instead, he found hundreds of images backed up - virtually all photos he took with his phone.
Google Photos kept uploading my pics to Google's cloud -- even after I uninstalled the app. With video proof. https://t.co/roFdqPT6Xb
— David A. Arnott (@ArnottACBJ) July 10, 2015
While it may sound odd and take far more users by surprise, this occurrence actually has a simple explanation - and solution. The option to automatically back up all your photos as soon as you take them has been available long before the Photos app made its debut. Consequently, uninstalling the Google Photos app doesn't really affect this functionality in any way, as the photo backup is part of Google's settings and not the app itself.
To avoid having your images automatically backed up online, simply uninstalling Google Photos will not suffice. You have to disable photo backup directly on your Android smartphone or tablet. To do so, access Google Settings on your device, select "Back up & sync" and select "Off." Until you do this, your photos will keep syncing regardless of whether you have the Google Photos app installed or not.
