--- description: With help from Gmail, Google+ photos finally get social. title: Gmail Lets Users Share Images Auto-Uploaded from Their Phones image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- * [Business](/section/business/) ## Business Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Tech](/tag/time-section-tech/) ## Tech Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Gmail Lets Users Share Images Auto-Uploaded from Their Phones by [Jared Newman](/author/jared-newman/) ## Jared Newman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Apr 16, 2014 8:40 PM CUT by [Jared Newman](/author/jared-newman/) ## Jared Newman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Apr 16, 2014 8:40 PM CUT My friends and family probably don’t know this, but I have photos of them on Google+ stretching all the way back to October 2011, when I bought a Samsung Galaxy S II and set up automatic photo backups. These photos aren’t public, and the vast majority of them are visible to no one except me. That’s because I haven’t bothered to share them. The reason is not complicated: Most of the people I know don’t actively use Google+, so sorting through and sharing my photos on Google’s social network would be a waste of time. Still, I auto-upload my photos anyway, using Google’s unlimited storage (for images of 2048 pixels or less) as a glorified backup service. The recent addition of [Google+ photo attachments in Gmail](http://gmailblog.blogspot.com/2014/04/the-photos-from-your-phone-now-one.html "undefined") may be a sign that Google has recognized the fate of its own network. Instead of forcing people to share photos through Google+, Google is now letting Gmail users attach photos directly to their messages, using a new “Insert Photo” button at the bottom of the email. As a way of sharing photos I’ve snapped from my phone, it’s incredibly convenient.  Google I will be considerably more likely to share my auto-uploaded photos over email than Google+. Sharing images via email is more private, more convenient and less proprietary. I know my recipients won’t have to visit Google+ or even have a Gmail account to view the images I send. And on my end, I’ll no longer have to wade through the Google+ interface just to find a photo, download it and re-upload it again. There are now more ways than ever to auto-upload photos to Google+. The latest version of Android includes a new “Photos” app, separate from the main Google+ app, that can automatically upload camera images. In December, Google released an [auto-backup desktop app](https://support.google.com/picasa/answer/4392268 "undefined") for Windows and Mac. And in October, the Google+ iOS app gained background uploads, allowing users to back up their photos without having to periodically re-open the app. But without a good way to share those photos, users are essentially stuffing their pictures in a dusty closet, and Google is just wasting server space. By liberating automatic photo uploads from Google+, Gmail is making those photos more social than they ever were on Google’s social network. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/65477/with-help-from-gmail-google-plus-photos-finally-get-social/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/65477/with-help-from-gmail-google-plus-photos-finally-get-social/"},"headline":"Gmail Lets Users Share Images Auto-Uploaded from Their Phones","datePublished":"2014-04-16T20:40:02.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T04:45:55.019Z","description":"With help from Gmail, Google+ photos finally get social.","url":"https://time.com/65477/with-help-from-gmail-google-plus-photos-finally-get-social/","keywords":["Tech","Google","gmail","Photos","Social Networking","images"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Jared Newman","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/jared-newman/"}],"articleSection":"Business","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/business/","name":"Business"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-tech/","name":"Tech"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/65477/with-help-from-gmail-google-plus-photos-finally-get-social/","name":"Gmail Lets Users Share Images Auto-Uploaded from Their Phones"}}]}] ```