Google Photos is one of Google’s best services, made especially useful by the fact that it’s mostly free. One of the paid parts of the Google Photos app is the ability to make photo books, and some users are now seeing large ads for those books in the app.
Last month, we uncovered hints in the Google Drive app that the cloud storage service’s dedicated “Google Photos” folder would no longer be synced with your Google Photos. Today, Google is making the change official and explaining why the sync between Drive and Photos needed to simplified.
Over the past several weeks many first-party apps have gained dark modes, including Google Calendar and Keep just last month. The latest is now Google Photos, with users on non-Android Q devices notably seeing the darker theme.
Regardless of your platform, Google Photos is one of the best options available for backing up and storing your photos. However, on iPhones and iPads, the app has always felt crippled by iOS. With the debut of iOS 13, the sync issues Google Photos has faced may finally be over with thanks to a new background tasks API.
Google Drive has long been the all-in-one storage solution for many, storing both traditional office files and Google Docs, along with photos and files of all varieties. In the past, Google Drive has worked in tandem with Google Photos to keep your photos safely stowed and accessible in both apps. This Google Photos sync integration seems to be ending in the near future, however, according to the latest version of the Google Drive app.
At I/O 2019, Google pushed privacy by expanding Incognito beyond Chrome to Maps and Search. Google Photos might be the next app to receive that mode, while version 4.16 today also updates the Google Lens icon to the new style.
Back at I/O 2018, Google teased the seriously impressive Google Photos feature Colorize, which has the ability to add color to black and white photos.
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Over the past few years, some phone makers have adopted a feature that allows a photo to include a short video with it. Google Photos, of course, supports the Pixel’s version of this, and even Apple’s. However, Samsung’s Motion Photos haven’t been supported in Google Photos for quite some time. Now, that might be changing.
After rolling out a Material Theme navigation drawer last week, Google Photos for Android is set to receive backup status indicators right in the gallery view. The app is also adding support for Android Foldables ahead of next week’s Samsung Galaxy Fold launch.
The Google Material Theme has slowly expanded to all of the company’s apps. Version 4.0 last September introduced the bulk of design changes to Google Photos, with the latest now updating the navigation drawer on Android.
Google last week announced a new “Crop & adjust” suggested action for Photos that is aimed at print documents and text. Google Photos 4.13 today reveals work on more size options when sharing photos to a third-party app, and is A/B testing a tweaked “Create new” menu.
At I/O 2018, Google Photos added suggested actions to automatically brighten, share, rotate, or archive an image. The Android app this week is adding a new “Crop & adjust” feature specifically for pictures of receipts and other documents.
Generally speaking, Google’s services are fairly secure. Today, though, a vulnerability from Google Photos has been revealed which potentially exposed location history, before it was patched.
Our APK Insight of Google Photos in November spotted a new “Express” backup option, which began rolling out to India last December. This new upload quality and Data Cap limit is now widely rolling out to the country, and coming soon to several others around the world.
One nice perk of Android TV as a platform is that it allows users to display their Google Photos albums on a screensaver when the TV is idle, just like Chromecast. However, an Android TV bug discovered this week allowed one user access to the private photo libraries of many other users. Yikes.
The Android share sheet is slow and clunky, with Google promising a “much faster” redesign in a future version of the OS. In the meantime, Google Maps and News have adopted a faster sharing menu design that is now being tested by Google Photos.
From face recognition to fingerprints, biometric data is widely used in today’s consumer technology to sort through pictures, unlock phones, and more. Some states have passed privacy laws to govern usage, with the Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA) in Illinois allowing individuals to seek damages. A lawsuit involving Google Photos was just dismissed in a win for the company.
The year is rapidly coming to a close and Google’s various services over the past few weeks have released recaps. Google News is now offering users a “Year in News” collection, while Google Photos is suggesting “Best of 2018” photo books.
Back in October, Google Photos introduced the new Live Albums feature that would identify people and pets and automatically create photo and video albums with a 10,000 photo and video limit. That has now been doubled to 20,000 thanks to a Live Albums update.
Google Fi has had a big month — if not year — after dropping its “Project” status and expanding to all Android devices and the iPhone. However, the Google MVNO is still sticking to holiday traditions with a free photo book from Google Photos for subscribers.
A change to Google Photos now means that any unsupported photo or video file types will now take up space on your Google account from December 6, 2018.
The latest version of Google Photos is rolling out today with a focus on making the backup feature more attractive for users in data-constrained environments. Google Photos 4.6 details work on an “Express” upload quality, as well as daily limits on data usage. Other features include more Suggested Actions, like those from Google Lens.
Google Photos is arguably one of the most underrated services that Google offers. Now, the ability to make physical copies of your pictures is expanding to 14 further European nations (via Android Police).
That puts the total at 27 countries that can share a printed photo book directly from their Google Photos library with loved ones, friends and relatives.
The first wave of Google Material Theme redesigns was for Android clients, with web apps in recent weeks following. After Google Keep Notes last month, Google Photos on the web is now the next major site to be revamped with various Material Theme tweaks.
