Last
year,
on
a
perfect
spring
day
that
also
happened
to
be
my
birthday,
I
took
a
car
trip
to
a
beautiful
area
of
New
York
state.
It
was
a
lovely
day.
The
new
foliage
was
just
coming
out
and
flocks
of
migrating
birds
were
flying
overhead
—
just
the
right
day
for
a
bunch
of
photos
and
good
memories.
Unfortunately,
my
reason
for
traveling
upstate
wasn’t
for
the
flora
and
fauna,
but
to
attend
the
funeral
of
my
best
friend.
I
took
lots
of
photos
on
that
day:
of
other
friends
who
attended
the
service,
of
the
river
paths
and
local
parks
that
my
best
friend
and
I
used
to
walk
together,
and
of
the
home
she
used
to
share
with
her
parents,
now
empty.
I
took
all
of
those
photos
because
I
knew
it
was
probably
the
last
time
that
I
would
visit
that
place.
And
one
year
later,
predictably,
Google
popped
up
in
my
notifications
with
an
invitation
to
revisit
the
“wonderful”
memories
of
that
day.
It
was
not
something
I
needed
—
or
wanted
—
a
reminder
of,
especially
a
peppy
reminder
that
assumed
I
had
a
wonderful
time
and
wanted
to
share
all
those
exhilarating
memories
with
all
my
friends.
I’m
pretty
sure
I’m
not
the
only
one
who
finds
these
pop-ups
less
of
a
joy
and
more
of
an
emotional
arrow
headed
into
your
heart.
Of
course,
you
can
avoid
these
notifications
by
just
pulling
out
of
the
internet
or
muting
all
of
your
notifications
—
but
if
you’ve
got
friends
you
want
to
keep
in
touch
with
or
notifications
that
are
important
to
you,
that
won’t
work.
In
addition,
you
may
like
having
some
of
these
memory
reminders
appear
—
just
not
all
of
them.
What
if,
say,
you
want
to
simply
avoid
photos
of
an
ex
or
of
the
trip
where
you
made
a
total
fool
of
yourself?
Perhaps
because
of
all
the
complaints,
some
of
the
more
egregious
offenders
—
Google
Photos,
Apple
Photos,
Facebook,
and
Microsoft
OneDrive
—
have
ways
that
you
can
stop
them
from
appearing.
Depending
on
the
app,
you
can
tweak
your
settings
to
avoid
specific
memory
notifications
—
or
stop
them
altogether.
Here
is
how
to
rein
in
unwanted
memories
from
these
four
apps.
You
can
tweak
the
Memories
feature
in
Google
Photos
to
stop
specific
groups
of
photos
or
bring
it
to
a
total
halt.
The
process
differs
depending
on
whether
you’re
using
a
desktop
or
mobile
app.
(Yes,
it
would
be
nice
if
Google’s
latest
AI
feature
—
whatever
they
want
to
call
it
—
could
do
this
for
you
with
a
single
request,
but
as
with
so
many
other
things,
AI
is
not
quite
there
yet.)
There
are
several
ways
you
can
tweak
Google’s
Memories
notifications.
In
the
desktop
app:
Go
to
Settings
(the
cog
in
the
upper-right
corner)
and
scroll
down
to
Memories.
If
there
is
a
specific
date
that
you
don’t
want
to
be
reminded
of
(or
several
specific
dates),
select
Hide
dates
>
Add
dates
and
add
the
date
(or
date
range)
you
want
to
avoid.
If
there
is
a
specific
person
or
pet
you
don’t
want
to
be
reminded
of,
select
Hide
people
&
pets.
You’ll
see
a
collection
of
all
the
faces
that
Photos
has
found
in
your
images.
Click
on
one
you
don’t
want
to
see,
and
it
will
be
grayed
out
with
a
“don’t
see”
symbol.
Click
on
it
again
if
you
want
to
restore
it.
If
you
don’t
want
any
pop-up
memories
at
all,
disable
Time-based
memories
and
Themed
memories.
In
the
mobile
app:
Tap
your
personal
icon
(in
the
upper-right
corner)
and
Photos
settings
>
Preferences.
Select
Memories.
Choose
Hide
people
or
Hide
dates
to
stop
memories
of
specific
people
or
dates.
(These
work
in
the
same
way
as
the
“hide”
feature
in
the
desktop
app.)
To
disable
pop-up
memories,
select
Notifications
and
disable
Time-based
memories
or
Themed
memories.
If
your
holiday
memories
are
not
great,
you
can
block
them.
You
can
block
different
types
of
Memories.
If
you
use
the
Apple
Photos
iPhone
app,
there
are
a
variety
of
ways
you
can
lessen
or
stop
people
or
events
from
popping
up
when
they’re
not
wanted
via
the
app’s
Memories
features.
To
control
how
often
you
see
a
specific
person,
pet,
or
other
content:
In
the
Photos
app,
find
a
picture
of
the
person
you
don’t
want
to
be
reminded
of.
Tap
the
three
dots
in
the
top-right
corner
and
select
Feature
This
Person
Less.
Select
Feature
This
Person
Less
or
Never
Feature
This
Person.
If
you
want
to
make
certain
content
appear
less
often:
Go
to
the
For
You
tab
in
Apple
Photos,
select
a
memory,
and
tap
the
three
dots
in
the
upper-right
corner.
Tap
on
Feature
Less
and
then
Confirm.
If
you’re
the
kind
of
person
who
gets
irritated
by
being
bombarded
with
holiday
photos
(and
believe
me,
I
sympathize),
then
you
can
specifically
stop
those
in
your
main
settings:
In
Settings,
select
Photos.
Scroll
down
to
Show
Holiday
Events
and
toggle
it
off.
And
as
long
as
you’re
there
—
if
you
want
to
turn
off
Memories
altogether
on
your
iPhone
(which
will
also
cut
off
Featured
Photos):
Go
to
Settings
>
Photos.
Scroll
down
to
Show
Featured
Content
and
toggle
it
off.
You
can
stop
Facebook
Memories
from
appearing
completely.
Yeah,
I
know
—
it’s
Facebook.
But
it’s
also
where
a
lot
of
your
relatives
are,
so
it’s
hard
to
let
it
go.
But
you
don’t
have
to
let
it
constantly
remind
you
of
things
you
don’t
want
to
be
reminded
of.
Using
the
desktop
app:
In
the
side
menu,
select
Memories
>
Notifications.
If
you
want
to
stop
Memories
altogether,
select
None
under
Notifications.
If
you
want
to
stop
Memories
of
specific
people
or
dates,
or
using
keywords,
go
to
Hide
Memories
lower
down
on
the
page
and
select
the
appropriate
category.
Using
the
mobile
app:
Tap
your
personal
icon
in
the
upper-right
corner,
and
select
Memories.
Select
the
Settings
(cog)
icon.
If
you
want
to
stop
Memories
altogether,
select
None
under
Notifications.
If
you
want
to
stop
Memories
of
specific
people
or
dates,
or
using
keywords,
look
for
Hide
Memories
lower
down
on
the
page
and
select
the
appropriate
category.
It’s
not
difficult
to
turn
off
OneDrive
Memories,
although
the
wording
is
a
little
obscure.
Microsoft,
not
to
be
left
behind,
offers
OneDrive
Memories.
Luckily,
it’s
easy
to
turn
off.
On
the
web:
You
can
go
directly
to
OneDrive’s
Notifications
option
by
going
to
this
link;
otherwise,
if
you’re
using
the
website,
click
on
the
cog
in
the
upper-right
corner
and
go
to
Options
>
Notifications.
You’ll
see
several
choices
for
Send
me
email
when.
Uncheck
the
box
next
to
On
this
day
memories
are
available.
Using
the
mobile
app:
On
the
mobile
app,
tap
Me
(your
personal
icon
in
the
lower-right
corner),
then
Settings
>
Notifications.
You
can
then
disable
notifications
for
On
this
day
and
Memories
from
last
month.
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