Memories beyond On This Day
Gallery's memory shelf is no longer limited to photos from the same calendar day in previous years. A new server-side
rule engine can generate named memories with their own titles, subtitles, ranking, and asset sets, while web and mobile
render them through the same generic memory UI.
The first two rules focus on moments people actually look for later: recent trips and birthdays. They supplement
existing memories rather than replacing them, and the server caps rule-based memories per day so the shelf stays useful
instead of noisy.
Recent trips are detected, then curated
The recent-trip rule looks at the last 30 days of location history, compares it with the preceding baseline, and emits a
memory only when there is a strong cluster outside your normal place. Sparse GPS data, unclear home baselines, and weak
location labels all fail quietly — no guessed trips.
Once a trip qualifies, Gallery curates the photo set. Burst shots collapse into one representative, the selection covers
the trip timeline first, longer trips can grow up to ten photos, and the final memory is ordered chronologically so it
reads like a trip recap.
Birthday memories are now supported
Gallery can now create birthday memories for named people with a birth date. When that person has qualifying photos
across multiple years, Gallery curates a birthday throwback that mixes those years together instead of showing only the
newest shots.
If your library is newer and only has recent photos for that person, Gallery still creates the birthday memory from
those newer qualifying photos. The rule adapts to the history you actually have: multi-year recap when there is enough
history, recent birthday set when there is not.
The server owns the story
Each rule stores a stable dedupe key, a score, a title, an optional subtitle, and its selected assets in the existing
memory table. Web and mobile do not need one rendering branch per rule; they display the server-provided copy and asset
list.
That keeps future memory rules mostly server-side. Gallery can add new kinds of memories later without making every
client release learn a new payload shape first.
Conservative by default
Memories should feel intentional. Recent trips have minimum asset and day thresholds, same-place trip memories cool down
before repeating, birthday memories require named visible people, and each rule fails soft when the library does not
have enough trustworthy data.
The result is a memory shelf that can surface a Cape Town recap after a real trip or a birthday card for someone you
care about, without turning every small cluster into an announcement.
