Google recently issued an email notification to its users, announcing the imminent removal of the album archive. While initially disconcerting, this development prompts us to consider the purpose and significance of this feature.
The term “Album Archive” may initially evoke a connection to Google Photos, but its actual contents are closely associated with outdated services such as Google Hangouts. Upon accessing the album archive, users will discover folders containing “Photos” from their Google Hangouts interactions, indicating that this repository houses content from bygone days.
According to Google, the album archive encompasses various elements, including rare instances of thumbnail photos, album comments, and likes. Additionally, it contains certain data from Google Hangouts. Furthermore, background images uploaded to Gmail’s Theme Chooser before 2018 are also present within this archive.
Users have the option to either view the content directly or download the complete package using Google Takeout. As Google threatens to delete the album archive, it begs the question: what purpose does it serve?