Google Business reviews — expose `hasPhotos` and `photoCount` metadata

Feature request

Please add a minimal, backward-compatible media indicator to Google Business review objects so API consumers can detect whether a review contains zero, one, or multiple photos attached directly to the review.

We do not need access to the images themselves.

Proposed fields

{ "hasPhotos": true, "photoCount": 2 } 

Expected semantics

photoCount

An integer, nullable when the exact count is unavailable.

• 0 = no photos attached to the review

• 1 = exactly one photo attached to the review

• greater than 1 = multiple photos attached to the review

• null = at least one photo is confirmed, but the exact count is unavailable

Please do not return an estimated or potentially incorrect count.

hasPhotos

A boolean indicating whether at least one review-attached photo is confirmed.

When the exact count is known:

hasPhotos === (photoCount > 0) 

If the exact count cannot be exposed initially, a reliable hasPhotos boolean alone would already be very useful as a first phase.

Important distinction

The reviewer’s profile picture must never be counted.

This request concerns only photos attached directly to the Google review, not:

• reviewer.profileImage

• the business logo

• business media

• avatars

• unrelated media

API surfaces

Please expose the fields on Google Business review objects returned by:

GET /v1/inbox/reviews?platform=googlebusiness&accountId=... 

Ideally, include the same fields in:

• review.new webhook payloads

• review.updated webhook payloads

This would allow automations to react immediately without additional polling.

Explicit non-goals

We are not requesting:

• image URLs

• thumbnails

• image binaries

• image content

• OCR

• image labels or descriptions

• EXIF metadata

• visual analysis

Only the confirmed presence and, when available, the number of review-attached photos are needed.

Use case

Our application generates personalized replies to Google reviews.

For positive reviews, this metadata would allow safe wording such as:

photoCount = 0 → do not mention photos photoCount = 1 → thank the customer for “this lovely photo” photoCount > 1 → thank the customer for “these lovely photos” hasPhotos = true and photoCount = null → use neutral wording that does not assume singular or plural 

The automation would never describe the photo content.

It would only mention photos for positive reviews, typically 4 or 5 stars.

Suggested phased implementation

Phase 1

Expose:

{ "hasPhotos": true } 

A reliable boolean alone already unlocks the main use case.

Phase 2

Add:

{ "photoCount": 2 } 

This allows correct singular/plural wording.

Compatibility

This would be a non-breaking addition for existing consumers.

For platforms other than Google Business, the fields could be:

• omitted;

• returned as null;

• or consistently returned as hasPhotos: false and photoCount: 0.

Any approach is acceptable as long as it is documented consistently.

Why this matters

This small metadata addition would significantly improve the personalization and natural quality of automated Google review replies without exposing any image data or increasing privacy risk.

We would also be happy to beta test the feature as soon as an early version is available.