Move Google Photos to Another Google Account

By Josep Mampel Marques, updated November 11, 2026

To move Google Photos to another Google account you have two real options. Partner sharing lets the other account save your photos into its own library without downloading anything, and it keeps working for new photos. The other option is the one Google's help describes: download your photos (with Takeout for the whole library) and upload them to the new account. Partner sharing is faster, but it works with one partner at a time; download and upload moves the files themselves, which is what you want when you are closing the old account.

Option 1: partner sharing

From Google's partner sharing help:

• You share photos with one partner, who can be anyone with a Google Account. Only one partner at a time.
• You can share all photos, or only photos from a chosen start date. You can also limit sharing to selected face groups, which is not available in every region.
• Both people need the Google Photos app, and your photos must be backed up. The partner must accept the invitation.
• Shared photos do not appear in the partner's library unless they choose Save to your account, for all photos or for selected face groups.
• Photos edited on your device are shared in their edited form.

Once saved, the photos belong to the partner's account: Google says edits, deletions or Locked Folder moves you make afterwards do not affect copies already saved, and removing the partner does not remove saved photos. Google also says saved partner photos do not count against the partner's storage while sharing continues, so check what happens to storage if you plan to stop sharing later.

Limits to plan around: it is one partner at a time, the other person must accept and save, and the help page describes sharing photos, not a promise to carry over albums or captions. Look at the result in the partner account before you stop sharing.

Option 2: download, then upload

Google's download help says that to move photos to a different Google Account you download them and upload them to the new account. For a whole library, that means a Takeout.

1. Export. In Takeout select only Google Photos, the zip type and a large archive size, and download every part. Each archive expires in about 7 days and can be downloaded 5 times. See how to download Google Photos with Takeout.
2. Fix the files. Google says the extra metadata (comments, and the information it stores outside the file) goes into separate JSON files, and your OS may give photos a new file timestamp. Uploading the raw files does not bring that information along, so photos without an embedded date can end up with the wrong one. Open PhotoFixer, choose all zip parts, pick the time zone and layout, and press Fix my photos. JPEGs without EXIF get the date, location and description; MP4 and MOV videos get a creation date; all files get their capture time as the file date; album copies are deduplicated. Nothing is uploaded: it runs in your browser.
3. Upload to the new account from photos.google.com or the Google Photos app, in batches you can check.

This route is also useful if the new account is a work or school one: Google's direct transfer is not available for those accounts, but a manual upload is.

Which to use

Before you delete anything

• Compare a few photos from different years, a screenshot and a video in the new account.
• Do not delete the old library until you have a backup outside Google. Google says downloading does not remove anything from its servers, so there is no hurry.
• Do not upload raw Takeout folders: album copies create duplicates (explained here).
• If dates look wrong after uploading, see why Takeout photos have the wrong date.