Google Photos API changes March 2025

[jmhammond]

Hello! I'm sure all of us using this project got this email (below). In the project, are we using the search scope to pull the photos from the albums, or will the current approach work with these new changes?

I just expanded from supporting three frames to five when I gave my siblings frames for Christmas. I'm a little concerned that they're going to stop working before I can back there to implement Google's changes 😦

@dadr @mrworf if you're still using this project, are you aware of what we'll need to do? Many thanks for this amazing project!

Dear Developers and Photos API users,

We are writing to remind you of the following changes to Google Photos APIs which will take effect on March 31, 2025.

What’s changing?

The Google Photos Library API readonly, sharing, and search scopes will be removed.
The Photos APIs will switch to a new Photos API User Data and Developer Policy.
What you need to do

If you use the Google Photos Library API readonly, sharing, or search scopes, review the documentation.
For photo picking and search use cases, use the Google Photos Picker API to maintain functionality. You can also use this API to allow users to pick photos to display on photo frames.
For sharing use cases, direct the user to share from within Google Photos.
Review and familiarize yourself with the new Photos API User Data and Developer policy.
We’re here to help

We’re committed to supporting you throughout the process. If you have questions, reach out on the support page. If you need more dedicated support, join our partner program.

Thanks for choosing Google Photos API

– The Google Photos APIs Team

[brewer-michael]

Came here to ask the same. This project has been really helpful to me and I love how versatile the photoframe is. Not to mention, it's allowed me to keep some old laptop panels out of the trash.

[mrworf]

Mine is still going strong, so you can bet I'm going to be taking a look at this since I don't want the frames to stop working.

(doh, had written start instead of stop, must have sounded evil 😄 )

[jmhammond]

Reading comments and the linked article on Hacker News Google change is breaking some digital photo frames is making me think this is less and less going to be a viable solution since it looks like even if we can get the Photo Picker API implemented, we have manually select each individual photo rather than an entire album.
Those users who might read this, is there an alternative service that might have a reasonable drop in replacement? iCloud? OneDrive? Nextcloud?

[mrworf]

It does seem like that. I can't believe what possessed them to do it. We have all our photos there. This may prompt moving to a locally hosted solution. Mar 14, 2025 17:53:19 John Hammond ***@***.***>:

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[Image][jmhammond][https://avatars.githubusercontent.com/u/84139?s=20&v=4]*jmhammond* left a comment (mrworf/photoframe#224)[#224 (comment)] Reading comments and the linked article on Hacker News Google change is breaking some digital photo frames[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43255789] is making me think this is less and less going to be a viable solution since it looks like even if we can get the Photo Picker API implemented, we have manually select each individual photo rather than an entire album. Those users who might read this, is there an alternative service that might have a reasonable drop in replacement? iCloud? OneDrive? Nextcloud? — Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub[#224 (comment)], or unsubscribe[https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AAODIIU63PF6ZSAY6B6SXDT2UN2XZAVCNFSM6AAAAABWFTAFPOVHI2DSMVQWIX3LMV43OSLTON2WKQ3PNVWWK3TUHMZDOMRWGA3TINZZG4]. You are receiving this because you were mentioned.

[jmhammond]

I'm on spring break starting today, so I'm going to spend the next few days seeing what I can do. In full disclosure, I'm a professor now and haven't been a full-time programmer in about 15 years, so I'm going to leverage Github Copilot.

I'll be working in the python3 branch since it has HEIF support (needed for my siblings). My plan is to spend about a day with the Google Photos Picker API just to see how the user experience actually is. If it's as onerous as I mentioned, I'll spend the rest of the week working on an alternative service module, like maybe iCloud works (Dakboard can use it).

[jmhammond]

Actually, new plan! I failed catastrophically, but I also didn't think the photo picker API will be too useful until google allows general third parties for more eligible devices for ambient displays.

My new idea is the following:

1. Prereqs:

   a. I have a synology NAS running already.
   b. Every device already is running in my tailscale tailnet
   c. I had one micro-to-usb-A adapter an a drive laying around.

2. I install the Synology Drive app on all my family member's devices

   a. I give each family member has their own account
   b. They can use their phone to select images they want to share and then send them to Synology Drive

3. Get a microusb-to-USB-A adapter and USB thumb drives for each frame;

   a. add the drive to /etc/fstab to mount;
   b. add a folder photoframe to each drive
   c. Add the USB-Photos service as a provider for each frame

4. Each frame then runs a cron job that rsyncs the images from the appropriate family member's synology folder to the usbdrive. Here's the sample that worked for me:

rsync -avz --progress testing@100.92.138.57:/volume1/homes/testing/ /mnt/usb1/photoframe/

where the IP address is a device in my tailnet. It actually worked perfectly!

... now I need to convince my father-in-law that he can use the "Share to Synology Drive." He's not a fan of change, but good golly this might actually work!

[mrworf]

Actually, reading about the API some more, specifically from the "Experience page", this snippet gives me hope that I can retain the feature:

For example, if your asking your users to share a specific album, you could include the following text on the same page your users connect to Google Photos: "Connect to Google Photos, then search for the album you want to share."

This seems to hint that unlike before, you'll use google's own page to pick the album/photos and then the app is granted access.

Just started a new job so I'm a bit short on time, but hope to experiment with this during the nights to see if I can make it work.

[MrMonkeysFriend]

Hello all, unfortunately the photoframe seems indeed not to work anymore - stuck with a black screen stating "no internet connection". Is there any solution available/upcomming?

best regards

[brewer-michael]

My display kept going on locally downloaded images, but a power outage finally killed it. I'm getting a no photos found from the Google API, so I take it the endpoint is truly dead now. Is it still looking promising that the "Experience Page" might be able to be integrated?

[daleye]

@mrworf do you plan to attempt a fix on this or is the project closing?

[mrworf]

It's not closing, my own frame is hanging in the living room, I've just been a bit tight on time. I hope to prototype the change in the next couple of weekends.

[daleye]

Wonderful! Thank you for your efforts.

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On Wed, May 7, 2025, 9:49 PM Henric Andersson ***@***.***> wrote: *mrworf* left a comment (mrworf/photoframe#224) <#224 (comment)> It's not closing, my own frame is hanging in the living room, I've just been a bit tight on time. I hope to prototype the change in the next couple of weekends. — Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#224 (comment)>, or unsubscribe <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/ABEEUUFZRU3AXYDROIZCB4T25KZ3HAVCNFSM6AAAAABWFTAFPOVHI2DSMVQWIX3LMV43OSLTON2WKQ3PNVWWK3TUHMZDQNRRGE4DAMJYGM> . You are receiving this because you commented.Message ID: ***@***.***>

[mrworf]

Working on a number of things, but surprisingly, it "seems" that the old API works? But right now I have to get OpnSense HAproxy up and running again (any ideas why it won't always start?) and also update the cert which had expired :(

[mrworf]

number of things:

1. Getting the current official software upgraded to python3 (almost there) ... I know there's been work done by others for this, including me, but I want a clean v3 upgrade path before I introduce new features.
2. Setting up a VM so I can implement an in-place upgrade on existing frames from python2.7 to python3

[mrworf]

proxy and ssl working again