How to Add and Transfer Google Photos?

As of May 7, 2025, Google has updated its Google Photos API, introducing new access rules that affect how third-party platforms like MultCloud interact with your photo library.
To comply with these changes, MultCloud has made the following updates:
1. The "Albums" directory in MultCloud will now only display albums created through MultCloud itself. Pre-existing albums created in Google Photos will not be visible here.
2. The "Photos" directory will now only display images uploaded via MultCloud. Photos added directly through Google Photos or other platforms will not be listed directly.
3. To transfer images from Google Photos to other Cloud services, please click the "Add More Photos" button and grant MultCloud access to the images you wish to transfer.
4. To transfer images from other cloud services to Google Photos, please note that only folders can be transferred to the "Albums folder, and only individual images can be transferred to the "Photos" directory.

Add Google Photos to MultCloud

Step 1: Sign up for a MultCloud account, or sign in if you already have one.
Step 2: After logging in, click "Add Cloud", select Google Photos, and then click "Add Google Photos".
Step 3: Choose or enter your Google Photos account credentials.
Step 4: Review the Privacy Policy and Terms of Service for MultCloud for Google Photos V2 to understand how your data is handled, then click "Continue".

Step 5: Once authorization is complete, Google Photos will be added to your MultCloud account.

Note:

Only two directories will be displayed: Albums and Photos.
The Albums folder will show albums created via MultCloud only.
The Photos folder will show images uploaded via MultCloud only.

Add More Photos to Google Photos in MultCloud

Due to recent changes in the Google Photos API (as of May 7, 2025), third-party platforms like MultCloud can no longer access your entire Google Photos library directly. Instead, only photos and albums created or uploaded via MultCloud will appear in your MultCloud account.
To transfer or sync existing photos from Google Photos, you’ll need to manually authorize MultCloud to access specific photos from your Google Photos account.

Step-by-Step to Add More Photos:
Step 1: Click "Add More Photos", enter a name for the folder where the images will be saved, and click "OK".

Step 2: A window will appear showing your personal Google Photos gallery. Please manually select the photos you need to make available to MultCloud, and click "Done".

Tips:

• You can filter and select photos based on their date/time.
• You can select up to 2,000 items per batch.
• If you need to add more than 2,000 photos, simply create another folder and repeat the process. 
• The permission granted via this method is valid for 7 days only. After 7 days, you will need to reselect and reauthorize access to the photos you want to use.

Step 3: Once added, the selected photos will be visible in MultCloud under the newly created folder. 

After that, you can create a transfer or sync task from these photos.

Google Photo Transfer Rules

Transfer from Google Photos

1. You can transfer or sync photos in the folders created via "Add More Photos".
2. You can transfer photos or album folders that were uploaded via MultCloud.

Transfer to Google Photos from Other Cloud Services

Restrictions for "Add More Photos" Folders
Folders created via “Add More Photos” cannot be selected as the destination when transferring from another cloud.

Rules for the "Photos" Directory
The "Photos" directory can only store images, videos and other media files. It does not support folder structures.
So, you can perform the following operations:
1. Use "Cloud Sync" to sync folders that only contain image/video files (no sub-folders) into the "Photos" directory.
2. Use "Cloud Sync" or "Cloud Transfer" to sync or transfer folders with multi-level subfolders. MultCloud will extract all media files and place them directly into the "Photos" directory, discarding the original folder hierarchy.
3. Use "Cloud Transfer" or "Copy To" to transfer individual image or video files directly into the "Photos" directory.

Rules for the "Albums" Directory
The "Albums" directory can only store album directories, but not media files. 
So, you can perform the following operations:
1. Use "Cloud Transfer" to move folders containing 0-level or multi-level subfolders into the "Albums" directory. MultCloud will create a new folder (same name as the source folder) under Albums and all images from subfolders will be extracted and flattened into the new album folder. The original folder structure will not be retained.
2. Use "Cloud Sync" to sync folders that contain one level of subfolders (i.e., folder → subfolders → photos) into the Albums directory. Subfolders and their contained images will be preserved as-is under "Album" directory
3. Use "Cloud Sync" to sync folders that contain only image files (no subfolders) into a folder (album) manually created via MultCloud under the "Albums" directory.

Other limits

1. Photo metadata such as geolocation and original dates will not be preserved during transfer. The destination photos will reflect the transfer or sync date, and the location info will be lost.
2. Due to limitations in the Google Photos API, photos downloaded by MultCloud are compressed. Therefore, the transferred images will be of "high quality", not the original full resolution.