How to remove music from Google Photos Memories: the new switch

The fastest fix is the new app-wide switch, which Google’s own Android help page now describes. Here’s where it lives:

1. Open the Google Photos app.
2. Tap your profile picture or initial at the top of the screen, then open Photos settings.
3. Go to Preferences, then Memories.
4. Flip Background music to off.

That’s it. From then on, Google Photos stops adding its own song to the memories it builds for you. You don’t need to change anything memory by memory, and you can switch it back on later the same way if you miss the music.

Don’t see the switch?

Google appears to be turning this on from its side rather than through an app download, so it shows up for different people at different times, and updating the app may not make it appear. If Preferences, then Memories doesn’t show a Background music option yet, use the per-memory mute in the next section and check back later.

Every version of Google Photos already lets you silence a single memory while it plays. Google’s help pages describe the same idea on each platform:

• Android: open a memory from the carousel at the top of the Photos tab, then tap the Volume icon at the bottom.
• iPhone and iPad: open a memory and tap Volume at the bottom of the screen.
• Web browser: open a memory from the carousel above your photos and click Volume at the top.

The catch is that this only covers the memory in front of you. Open another one and the music starts again. It’s a handy quick fix on a train or in a quiet office, but it isn’t a setting.

The new setting is broader than you might expect. Turning off Background music removes the added soundtrack from all Memories, and that includes the End of Year Recap that Google Photos puts together. If you liked music on the yearly roundup but not on everyday memories, there’s no separate control for that right now; it’s all or nothing.

What it doesn’t do is mute your own videos. If a memory contains a clip you filmed, you’ll still hear the sound recorded with it, such as voices, laughter or the waves on a beach. Only the song Google adds on top goes away. For a lot of people that’s the best version of a memory: the real sound of the moment, with nothing pasted over it.

One limit worth knowing: right now the Android help page is the one that lists the new switch. Google’s iPhone and web help pages still only describe the Volume button inside each memory. If you use Google Photos on an iPhone, look under Preferences, then Memories, but don’t be surprised if only the per-memory mute is there for now.

Sharing is where the soundtrack causes the most trouble, because a memory you export as a video keeps the same music it plays with in the app by default. That’s fine for a cheerful holiday clip and less fine for a tribute to a grandparent.

You can strip it out before you send anything:

1. Open the memory and tap the Share icon.
2. Choose to share it as a video, then tap Edit.
3. Turn off the Share with music option and tap Done.
4. Pick the app or person to send it to.

The same editor lets you rename the memory and choose which photos make the cut, so it’s worth a quick look before anything leaves your phone. Exporting as a video file also means friends who don’t use Google Photos can watch it in any messaging app.

Tidy the memory before you send it

Each memory is really two things: the short highlight video you watch and share, and an album holding every photo and clip it draws from. To get a picture into the video, it has to be in the album first. Open the memory, tap the three-dot menu, choose Edit and use the gallery button to add photos from your library. Then tap Edit on the highlight video itself to tick the shots you want and untick the ones you don’t. Changing the order works the same way: drag photos around inside the album. If the new order doesn’t show up in the video straight away, take that photo out of the highlight and put it back. A few minutes here makes a muted memory feel far more personal than one with stock music.

Want a different song instead?

Google Photos still doesn’t let you swap in a track you choose. The music it adds is instrumental, and the only built-in choice is on or off. If you want your own song, export the memory without music, open the video in any video editing app on your phone, and lay your track over it there.

For most people this is a small change that removes a daily annoyance. Memories sit at the top of the Photos tab, where you see them every time you open the app to find something else. A switch that keeps them quiet makes the feature far less intrusive, especially if you scroll through photos in bed, at work or on public transport.

It also helps with the moments where music feels out of place. Google Photos picks memories automatically, and not every old photo is one you want set to a cheerful tune. If certain dates or people are the real problem, Google Photos settings also let you hide specific dates and faces from memories under the same Memories menu, so you don’t have to turn the whole feature off.

And if you’d rather not see Memories at all, that’s an option too. Under Preferences, then Memories, then Memory types, you can turn off both time-based and themed memories, and the Notifications page in the same menu stops the alerts for new ones while keeping the carousel.