Google+ mobile apps updated with Snapseed editing features, new profile design, location sharing, and much more

Google announced a major update today for its Google+ mobile apps today that, among a number of other features, brings some of Snapseed’s basic photo-editing enhancements to the iPhone app:

• Do basic edits like rotate and crop, as well as select filters like Drama and Retrolux
• Adjust saturation, contrast, brightness and lots more by sliding your fingers up-and-down, then left-and-right
• Single tap at any time to compare your creation with the original

Google isn’t entirely merging Snapseed into the Google+ apps, as it still recommends downloading its standalone Snapseed app for more advanced editing features. On the Android side, Google listed the following new enhancements, such as:

• Posts include more text up front—from the original message, and from comments
• Tapping video, photo or link attachments takes you directly to a watch page, lightbox or website
• Image previews are rarely cropped, so you’ll see portrait photos (for instance) in all their glory
• Key actions like +1, reshare and comment are displayed more prominently in each post
• You can swipe through photo albums inline

Another new feature for Android and Google+ on the desktop is the ability to share your location on your profile:

To give the feature a try, just visit your Google+ settings via desktop or Android and turn on “Location Sharing.” You can also visit +Chris Hadfield’s profile—the Canadian Space Agency astronaut is sharing his current location (the International Space Station!) with all of us here on Earth.

Both the updated iPhone and Android versions will include more ways of managing communities such as “the ability to adjust the volume of community posts in your Home stream.”

Google also listed a number of other new features and enhancements for iPhone users, including: a new profile design, a redesigned notifications tray, new set-up process of new users. Additional updates added:

– New photo editing features: add filters, rotate and crop
– New profile design
– New notifications tray
– New set-up flow for new users
– Control the volume of posts that you see in your stream from individual circles/communities
– Filter search results by best or most recent
– Tell your friends about a community (by sharing it or sending an invitation)
– Reshare posts to communities
– Display counts for unread messages in your communities
– Additional community moderation features

On top of bringing Snapseed-editing features to the iPhone app today, Google announced it is releasing the Nik Collection by Google. It’s a $149 package of the Snapseed creator’s Photoshop, Lightroom, and Aperture plug-ins.

Version 4.3.0 of Google+ for iPhone and iPad is on the App Store now, while the updated Android app should be available on Google Play shortly.