Photo picking: what users see

This guide helps you understand your user's experience when picking media items.

Following the standard Picker API flow, picking beings after your app displays the pickerUri, and while your app is polling for mediaItemsSet to return true.

To view any of these steps on your own device, check out our sample app.

Start the picking session

After successfully creating a session your app should display the pickerUri to your users.

• Display the pickerUri as both a QR code and a URL.
• Provide helpful text alongside the pickerUri. For example, "Scan this code to open Google Photos and select your items.".
• For devices with limited input capabilities (e.g., kiosks, tablets, smart TVs), check your hardware manufacture's recommendations on text size and QR code width.

Landing page

When a user accesses the pickerUri, they are taken to a photo selection page within the Google Photos app.

This page will always display the most recent photos from your user's Google Photos library.

Search and select photos

From the Google Photos app users can search for photos using various criteria, such as keywords, dates, locations, and album titles.

After searching, the user can select one or more items from the results.

Done screen

Once the user has pressed the "Done" button and completed picking, they will see the "Done" screen.

To provide your users the option to select more photos, display the pickerUri again in your app. If your users access the pickerUri a second time, it will create a new picking session.