Google Photos details new ‘trendy’ video editing templates and how to use them

Ben Schoon | Oct 31 2025 - 9:05 am PT

Google Photos is adding new video editing templates that the company says will offer “trendy” setups with “easy and automated” video creation.

As an extension of the existing “Highlight video” function on the “Create” tab, Google Photos will offer “pre-packaged” templates that you can slot your media into. The templates are set up with cuts that match the beat of included music, as well as places to include text.

Google says:

Our new video templates make it easier than ever to create a polished, share-worthy video with creative narratives beat-matched to trendy music.

As it stands today, this doesn’t appear to be widely rolled out. The existing Google Photos “Highlight video” tool – which debuted in 2023 – still lets you add media, edit for specific aspect ratios, and attach music to the whole video, but templates don’t seem to be widely available just yet.

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On a support page, Google details the process for picking a template, which starts on the “Highlight video” page.

On your Android device, open the Google Photos app.

At the bottom, tap Create Highlight video.

Browse through templates for different themes and narratives.

Templates are pre-packaged videos that already come with music, text, and beat-matching.

When you find the template you want to use for your video, tap Use template.

Select your photos or videos. You can do so in 2 ways:

Manually select the best photos or videos from your gallery based on the story you want to tell.

To use the assisted content selection for template, tap Help me select. It’ll automatically select the content you want to include in your video.

With Search: In the Search box, type a few words about the people, places, themes, or dates to include in your highlight video. For example, “Birthday,” “Museum,” or “Japan.”

With suggested people, places, and time frames: From the suggested items, select “Who,” “Where,” “When,” and more.

At the top right, tap Next.

Review your video.

Based on the story you want to create, you can customize your video by changing the clips, music, or text.

When you’re done, tap Save.

To watch your highlight video, tap Play or wait to be notified when the highlight video is ready.

Tip: If you don’t see the people or time frame you would like in the suggestions, tap Add person or Date range.