How to Hide Specific People and Pets from Google Photos Memories and Search

Google Photos features sophisticated facial recognition and machine learning algorithms that automatically organize your image library by identifying recurring individuals, friends, and pets. By default, Google’s automated system surfaces these faces prominently across your Memories carousel at the top of your photo feed, within home screen widgets, and in automated recap videos like “Rediscover this day” or “Best of the month”. However, following relationship breakups, estrangements, personal losses, or grief, seeing unexpected photos of specific people or pets can be emotionally distressing.

Fortunately, Google Photos provides granular privacy controls that allow you to hide specific faces completely or show them less frequently without deleting the original pictures from your library. In this tutorial, you will discover how to customize face visibility settings, block unwanted people and pets from Memories, and maintain a thoughtful, personalized Google Photos experience across Android, iPhone, and desktop web browsers.

How Face Hiding Works in Google Photos

Google Photos offers two levels of face moderation:

• Hide Face Completely (Block from Memories and Search): The designated person or pet will never appear in your Memories carousel, featured collections, automated highlight videos, or Android/iOS lock screen widgets. Additionally, their face group tile is removed from your People & Pets search catalog. The underlying photo files remain safely stored in your archive.
• Show Less: Google’s algorithms will avoid featuring this individual in individual spotlight Memories, but they may still appear if captured in broad group photos alongside other prominent friends or family members.

Step 1: Hiding People and Pets via Google Photos Settings (Mobile App)

You can manage face filters directly within the Google Photos mobile preferences on Android and iPhone:

1. Open the Google Photos app on your smartphone or tablet.
2. Tap your Profile picture or initial in the top-right corner of the screen.
3. Select Photos settings (or Google Photos settings).
4. Tap Preferences.
5. Select Memories.
6. Tap Hide people and pets (or Hide faces).
7. Google Photos displays a grid showing all recognized face groups stored in your cloud library.
8. Tap the eye icon with a slash (or the face circle) for every person or pet you wish to hide. A slash appears over their picture confirming they are blocked.
9. Tap the back arrow to save your preferences.

Step 2: Hiding an Individual Directly from the Memories Carousel

If an unwelcome photo of a former partner or acquaintance appears right in your active Memories feed, you can hide them instantly without digging through deep settings menus:

1. Tap the active Memory story playing at the top of your Google Photos feed.
2. While the photo is displayed, tap the three vertical dots (•••) in the top-right corner (or swipe up to view photo metadata).
3. Tap Hide.
4. Choose your desired filtering degree:
   • Tap Hide this person from memories to open the face picker and remove that individual from all future automated stories.
   • Tap Hide this date if you prefer to suppress an entire anniversary, event, or difficult calendar day.
   • Tap Remove from this memory to exclude only that specific photo from the current collection.

Step 3: Managing Hidden Faces on the Web (Desktop Browser)

If you prefer organizing your photo library using a computer:

1. Navigate to photos.google.com in your web browser and sign in.
2. Click the Settings (gear icon) in the upper-right corner of the interface.
3. Scroll down and expand the Memories section.
4. Click Hide people & pets.
5. Click on the face icons you want to suppress.
6. Click Done.

Step 4: Unhiding a Face if Circumstances Change

Face hiding is completely reversible and never damages underlying files or metadata:

1. Return to Settings > Preferences > Memories > Hide people and pets.
2. Scroll to the Hidden section at the top of the face grid.
3. Tap the blocked face to remove the eye-slash indicator.
4. The person or pet will immediately return to your searchable People catalog and become eligible for positive future Memories collections.

Hiding Specific Dates from Memories

If you have specific anniversary dates or tragic life events that you never want surfaced in “On this day” throwbacks:

1. Navigate to Settings > Preferences > Memories > Hide dates.
2. Tap Add dates.
3. Specify a single date or define an entire calendar range (such as a painful multi-week hospital stay or challenging holiday).
4. Tap Save. Google Photos will strictly skip photos taken during that timeframe across all automated throwbacks.