Google Photos gets ‘Best of 2021’ Memories collections, but is it any good?

Since Spotify popularized the idea of putting your year in a nutshell with Spotify Wrapped, other apps and services have also jumped on the trend. In this particular case, we are talking about Google Photos.

One by one, users are currently getting their own personal “Best of 2021” Memories collection. Once they show up on your profile, you can find them by opening the Google Photos app—the collection should be at the top of the screen, where all other seasonal ones usually are. (via 9to5Google)

So, knowing Google and its history of AI prowess we should expect some awesome results here, right? After all, what better place to implement this idea than to look back on your whole year and the best moments you have captured?

Unfortunately, it seems Google missed a golden opportunity here. Maybe the release of this small feature in Google Photos was a last-minute type of idea and was rushed to get released before the holidays. If that is the case, then there is ample proof of it.

The choice of photos and videos seems to be quite random. Often you might find images that bear little to no hint of significance. Google seems to just pick several photos you have taken throughout the last 12 months and throw them at you. Granted, you can manually change the photos to more suitable ones, but that kind of kills the point of it.

Now, to cut Google some slack here, it is likely a much more demanding task to summarize photos while taking into consideration both quality and sentimental value than it is to put together someone’s most listened to music. Not to undermine Spotify, though—the folks there have done an amazing job, even though Wrapped has its flaws.

Nevertheless, if someone were going to deliver on putting your whole year's worth of photos and videos into one neat package, that would be Google. That is exactly why we are left a little disappointed. Maybe next year, when Google is more prepared, it will do the amazing job we know it can.