How to find your shared Hangout photo albums

Update November 2022: Hangouts has shut down, and it's likely the images you shared to Hangouts will eventually disappear from the Album Archive.

Update July 2016: Picasa Web Albums will be retired August 1st. You can find your Hangout photo albums in the new Google Album Archive (get.google.com/albumarchive). (Learn more)

Update July 2015: Google+ Photos will be retired July 29th. You can find your Hangout photo albums in Picasa Web Albums (picasaweb.google.com).

Update November 2015: links to Google+ Photos now redirect to Google Photos (photos.google.com). There is no way to access Hangouts albums in Google Photos.

When you share a photo in a Google Hangout chat or take a photo in a video call it is added to a shared photo album that is visible to you and anyone else in the Hangout.

Hangouts photos are not displayed in the new Google Photos (photos.google.com). However you can find your Hangouts albums in Google+ Photo albums or Picasa Web Albums the Google Album Archive (get.google.com/albumarchive).

• Find shared Hangouts albums in Google+ Photo albums
• in your own Google+ Photo albums
• in someone else's Google+ Photo albums
• Find shared Hangouts albums in Picasa Web Albums (picasaweb.google.com)
• in your own Picasa web albums
• in someone else's Picasa web albums
• Having trouble finding your Hangout photos?
• check the albums of the other Hangout participants
• if the Hangout history was turned off images will only be available a short time
• What you can do with your Hangout photos

Find shared Hangouts albums in Google+ Photos

Note: Google+ Photos will be retired starting July 29, 2015. You will still be able to find your Hangout albums in Picasa Web Albums after that date. 

As of November 19, 2015, links to Google+ Photos redirect to Google Photos, so the instructions below no longer work.

As of August 2016, Hangouts albums can only be found in the Google Album Archive (get.google.com/albumarchive)

If you have a Google+ Profile your Hangouts albums will be in your Google+ Albums. Because Hangouts album are shared, you should see the album in the photos of anyone who participated in your Hangout.

Find Hangouts albums in your own Google+ Photo albums

1. Sign in to Google+ and open Google+ Photos at plus.google.com/photos/highlights

2. At the top of the page click More v

3. From the menu select Albums

Hangouts chat albums are titled Hangout: [name or participants]

Video call albums are titled Video call on [date]

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The number of photos shown is the number you shared, not the total number in the album.

Find Hangouts albums in someone else's Google+ Photo albums

Note: Google+ Photos will be retired starting July 29, 2015. You will still be able to find your own Hangout albums in Picasa Web Albums after that date. 
Note: as of November 19, 2015, Google+ Photos links redirect to Google Photos. You can only access your Hangouts albums in Picasa Web Albums. (picasaweb.google.com)

If someone else in a Hangout chat uploaded an image or someone else in a video call took a picture, the shared Hangout album should be visible in their Google+ Photo albums. 

To view someone else's albums, go to  plus.google.com/photos/[user ID]/albums

For example: On Google+ I am plus.google.com/+PeggyKTC or plus.google.com/103172072345300450419

That means you can see all my public albums and all albums shared with you at:
plus.google.com/photos/+PeggyKTC/albums or plus.google.com/photos/103172072345300450419/albums

You won't see any Hangouts albums there unless we've been in a Hangout together and I shared an image.

Find shared Hangouts albums in Picasa Web Albums

Note: as of August 1, 2016 Hangouts Albums can only be accessed in the Google Album Archive (get.google.com/albumarchive). The instructions below will no longer work.

Hangouts albums are also displayed in Picasa Web Albums, whether you have a Google+ Profile or not. Because Hangouts album are shared, you should see the album in the photos of anyone who participated in your Hangout.

Find Hangouts albums in your own Picasa Web Albums albums

To access your own Picasa Web Albums, open 

 picasaweb.google.com/lh/myphotos

You can see all your albums there, including your Hangouts albums

Hangouts chat albums are titled Hangout: [name or participants]

Video call albums are titled Video call on [date]

 

The number of photos shown is the number you shared, not the total number in the album.

Find Hangouts albums in someone else's Album Archive page

You can view someone else's albums by going to:

get.google.com/albumarchive/[user ID]

For example:
My Google+ Profile URL is: plus.google.com/103172072345300450419

My public albums and albums shared with you are visible in my Google Album Archive:

get.google.com/albumarchive/103172072345300450419

Note that you must use the 21-digit user ID. Custom URLs will not work.

Having trouble finding your Hangouts photos?

Check other Hangout participants albums

A Hangout album is visible to all participants in a Hangout chat or everyone invited to a video call. However, the Hangouts album will only be listed among your own photo albums if you contributed an image to it.

If you cannot find the album on your own albums page, check the albums page for other Hangout participants.

Check whether the Hangout history was turned on

Photos shared when the Hangout history is turned off will only be temporarily visible in the shared album. After a short period of time, they'll be deleted from the album.

What you can do with your Hangouts albums

Once you have accessed a Hangout album, you can:

• upload images - they should appear in the Hangout chat 
• delete images you shared - you cannot delete images shared by other people
• download images
• share images 

Learn more in the Hangouts help center:

• Share your photos, videos or location in Hangouts

Related:  How to find your Blogger blog photo albums

Updated March 2019