Google Messages‘ media sharing experience is a seamless one. Simply tapping the gallery button brings up a media picker UI with different sections for photos, videos, and your current live camera.
This implementation, however, has one main drawback — it only highlights local photos. You’re still able to access your Google Photos library, but it requires users to tap the Folders button, which is one additional step that Google is looking to cut out, as highlighted by credible Android analyst Mishaal Rahman in an Android Authority report.
Tapping the Folders button essentially lets Google Messages transition from its custom media picker to Android’s native photo picker, going from an overlay that feels native to the app to a UI that feels just a little disconnected. That is one of the main reasons why developers often choose a custom picker for their apps, even though they could rely on the system picker for better overall functionality.
This comes even though custom pickers are inherently less secure. Custom pickers require users to grant the app access to their entire media gallery. The sytem picker, on the other hand, only gains access to the specific media files that you select.
Despite the concern, the pros of custom pickers’ integrated look outweigh the cons, and that is evident since Google’s own apps use custom pickers.
Now, in an attempt to bring the best of both worlds, Google is making use of a new ’embedded’ Photo Picker API.
The new API was introduced with Android 16, and it essentially allows developers to integrate the Android system photo picker into their own custom picker and UI. Not only does this solve the ‘extra tap’ problem, it retains the system picker’s superior security and privacy, with no need for the app to request wide gallery permissions.
According to Rahman’s findings, the new joint picker is already live on their OnePlus 13 running OxygenOS16, and tapping Google Messages’ gallery button on their device highlights the full Google Photos library, not just locally-saved shots.
I checked my OnePlus 13R, and it doesn’t have the new gallery UI just yet. Has the unified photo picker rolled out to you? Let us know in the comments below!
