Google has announced a new feature update coming to Google Photos on Android, iOS, and the web. The new feature is nothing more than a private messaging functionality that users can opt to use to share photos and videos with others without having to go through the trouble of creating a shared album.

The new chat feature eliminates the need to create albums to share photos. With this update, two or more users with an active Google account can send a message with a photo or video, just like you would on any other social platform, such as Instagram or WhatsApp.

Users can share photos and videos with anyone, as long as they have a Google account and the contact's name, email address or phone number. New chats can be created by opening a photo in the library and tapping the share button.

Google previously allowed users to share photos and videos with each other by creating shared albums. Shared albums would allow participants to upload and download media that was being shared. However, sending a photo first meant creating an album with pre-selected participants, which was far from glamorous.