How do I connect Google Photos?

Premium feature — pick photos from Google Photos and LifeCharted groups them into events by date and place.

Google Photos is a Premium feature

Connecting Google Photos requires an active Premium subscription. On the Free plan the integration card shows an "Unlock with Premium" prompt instead of a connect button.

Connecting your Google account

Go to Settings → Integrations and tap Connect Google Photos, or use the connect prompt at the top of the Photos tab. You will be redirected to Google to authorize access, then returned to LifeCharted. The connection is one-time — you only need to authorize it once.

Picking and grouping photos

Once connected, start an import and pick photos using Google's own picker — LifeCharted never browses your library on its own, it only receives the photos you hand it.

After picking, LifeCharted groups the photos into clusters by date and location and shows you a confirmation screen. For each group you choose to create a new event, attach it to an existing event, or skip it. You can rename a group, set its category, and tag people before saving.

Some photos may be rejected during processing — very large files and images that fail automated content screening are dropped, and the confirmation screen tells you how many were skipped.

What happens after import

Confirmed photos are attached to their events and appear in the Photos tab. They are copied into your LifeCharted photo library — nothing syncs back to Google Photos, and later changes in Google do not affect what you have imported.

You can reorder photos within an event by dragging them in the event editor.

Disconnecting

To remove the connection, go to Settings → Integrations and tap Disconnect. This removes the OAuth link but does not delete any photos already imported.

Rules of Thumb

Import photos after your timeline backbone is in place — attaching a group to an existing event only works if that event already exists.
Import in batches around one period of your life at a time; the date-and-place grouping is much easier to review that way.
Check each group's suggested date and title before confirming — screenshots and edited images often carry the wrong date.

Common Mistakes

Expecting LifeCharted to scan your whole library — it only ever sees the photos you select in the Google picker.
Importing before building any events, which leaves nothing to attach groups to.
Confirming every group as a new event and ending up with duplicates of events you already had.

Take action

Use this article as a guide, then jump back into the product while the advice is fresh.

Open Integrations

How does the Photos tab work?

Browse all your photos in one place, filtered by life domain or event.

When should I add photos, people, or places?

These details make events easier to revisit and often improve story quality.

How do I add an event?

Create a short title, choose the right category, and add a date or date range.