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One of the answers points the right steps to disable the Google account (and the annoying popup) in the Photos app: - click on the account icon - choose switc

One of the answers points the right steps to disable the Google account (and the annoying popup) in the Photos app: - click on the account icon - choose switch account and pick use this application without an account

TekMol 1mo ago
Just tried that. Unfortunately, it seems to completely mess up the interface? I couldn't even see all photos anymore. Even though I do not use backup at all. So it is not possible that those photos are in the cloud or something.
- gertop 1mo ago
  Force close the app and clear the cache, your photos will come back. Or clear data completely, then open the app "for the first time" and immediately log out. It'll work, but as you've discovered, google made sure that it isn't the happy path. Also no search (not even by file name), no albums, some editing functions won't work (even though they're local), and a few more annoyances. but also no more backup prompt...
  - TekMol 1mo ago
    Oh, that looks good! I closed the app, stopped it and cleared the cache. Then restarted it. The UI is surprisingly sane now. My first impression is that it is much better than before. Everything is neatly layed out in a series of albums, for each the latest images are shown and I can click on the album name and it displays them all. So I do see my albums. Those seem to be just directories in /Pictures/ which it seems I can edit with the files app? Am I missing out on anything this way? I don't need search. All the usualy edit functions like cropping, adjusting colors etc also seem to still be there.
  - wila 1mo ago
    Is google lens still available? That's perhaps the only cloud feature I sometimes use, in order to translate Chinese text to English or similar. Also is it possible to undo (in case there's something I don't like?) Is it just a matter of adding the app back to your account?
    - TekMol 1mo ago
      I switched back and forth between "with account"/"without account" a few times now and it seems to work just fine. I stay with the no-account state, as it not only removes the nags, the interface is actually much cleaner and more logical No idea about Lens, because I never used it. Aren't there webapps or web services for everything these days? I do everything that I do only occasionally via webapps. Barcode parsing for example.
      - wila 1mo ago
        Just tried it. Google lens is fine, it does work. However -some way or the other- it decided to only show pictures from 2024 and older. Something is messed up in that respect and thus I switched back.
novafunc 1mo ago
That does not work for all use cases. For me, I want to use Google Photos exclusively to see my past backups but never back anything up again.
- cube00 1mo ago
  > For me, I want to use Google Photos exclusively to see my past backups but never back anything up again. Get out while you still can, it's only a matter of time before your account gets locked by their automated "abuse" systems. Cloud only is not a backup.

TekMol 1mo ago

Just tried that. Unfortunately, it seems to completely mess up the interface? I couldn't even see all photos anymore. Even though I do not use backup at all. So it is not possible that those photos are in the cloud or something.

gertop 1mo ago
Force close the app and clear the cache, your photos will come back. Or clear data completely, then open the app "for the first time" and immediately log out. It'll work, but as you've discovered, google made sure that it isn't the happy path. Also no search (not even by file name), no albums, some editing functions won't work (even though they're local), and a few more annoyances. but also no more backup prompt...
- TekMol 1mo ago
  Oh, that looks good! I closed the app, stopped it and cleared the cache. Then restarted it. The UI is surprisingly sane now. My first impression is that it is much better than before. Everything is neatly layed out in a series of albums, for each the latest images are shown and I can click on the album name and it displays them all. So I do see my albums. Those seem to be just directories in /Pictures/ which it seems I can edit with the files app? Am I missing out on anything this way? I don't need search. All the usualy edit functions like cropping, adjusting colors etc also seem to still be there.
- wila 1mo ago
  Is google lens still available? That's perhaps the only cloud feature I sometimes use, in order to translate Chinese text to English or similar. Also is it possible to undo (in case there's something I don't like?) Is it just a matter of adding the app back to your account?
  - TekMol 1mo ago
    I switched back and forth between "with account"/"without account" a few times now and it seems to work just fine. I stay with the no-account state, as it not only removes the nags, the interface is actually much cleaner and more logical No idea about Lens, because I never used it. Aren't there webapps or web services for everything these days? I do everything that I do only occasionally via webapps. Barcode parsing for example.
    - wila 1mo ago
      Just tried it. Google lens is fine, it does work. However -some way or the other- it decided to only show pictures from 2024 and older. Something is messed up in that respect and thus I switched back.

novafunc 1mo ago

That does not work for all use cases. For me, I want to use Google Photos exclusively to see my past backups but never back anything up again.

cube00 1mo ago
> For me, I want to use Google Photos exclusively to see my past backups but never back anything up again. Get out while you still can, it's only a matter of time before your account gets locked by their automated "abuse" systems. Cloud only is not a backup.