You may have seen some posts today around searching with an Emoji in Google Photos on Android. Although it is April Fools day, the fact is that this type of searching actually really works – today at least. Google is infamous for their elaborate and often high number of jokes on April 1st each year and when this one started up late last night, many (me included) dismissed it as a joke. Then I tried it and was shocked that it actually worked.
Google Photos for Android has been updated with a much needed and welcomed change around photo editing. The changes are found in version 1.17 of the app, which is currently rolling out to the Google Play Store and devices. The update brings what is commonly considered “non-destructive” photo editing. It means that your original photo is stored along with the edited version in one file and if you want to go back to your original photo, you simply undo the edits. This behavior is quite common in other photo editing apps but, until now, was not in Google Photos.
Google Photos is getting updated with a new Smart Album feature that will automatically create a new album for you from your latest trip or event. The update is coming in an update to the Android, iOS and the website for the service starting today. Users should see an OTA update come to their devices over the course of the next few days with the new feature.
Google Photos saw a small but important update yesterday that gives you more control over your videos you have stored in the app and online. The updated version is build 1.6 for those keeping score at home and it is rolling out to the Google Play Store now. If you have the app, you should see the OTA for it in the next few days. The big change is that you now have the ability to fast forward and rewind videos that you have stored as you watch them. Previously you could only pause videos but if you wanted to go back in the video, you had to tap the play bar to go back or start over.
One of the challenges of today’s smartphones is… their camera. Yes, you heard me right. The cameras in many of today’s phones are amazingly good, fast and because our phones are always with us, gives us the freedom to snap a photo whenever and wherever we want. The challenge of course is that your phone doesn’t have unlimited storage and at some point you will have to clear off some photos from the device to get some space back for apps and other data. If you are a user of Google Photos, there is a built in tool that makes this easy and worry free.
In this How To I’m going to go over the Free Up Space feature in Google Photos for Android and for iOS. I’ll walk you through how to access it and what it does exactly with the photos on your phone.
In his second How To and troubleshooting video in as many weeks, Google Photos Top Contributor Scott Peachey has put together a great video outlining the various steps you can take when you can’t find photos in Google Photos. The 8:30 video covers a wide range of things to investigate and research on your device if you can’t find some photos or if you can’t find any photos. Even if you have not had the issue yourself, it is well worth watching this video so you can avoid some of the pitfalls that Scott and other contributors, me included, see often in the forums.
For you Android users of Google Photos, there is a new update rolling out to the Google Play Store that brings a lot of nice UI tweaks. The update you are looking for is version 1.15 for those keeping score at home and it should be coming to you via an OTA update (if you have it installed) over the course of the next day or two. Once you get the update, you are going to see some of the changes immediately. First, on the Assistant page, you will see a new Create New scroll bar at the top. This puts things like creating an Album, Collage, Animation or Movie a tap away. In previous builds these were off of the menu and a few taps away.
Google has quietly released an update to the web version of Google Photos today with the main improvements having to do with editing and cropping. The first change has to do with improving editing speed while switching between photos. To this point, if you wanted to edit a photo, you would have to go into edit mode and the back out of that mode if you wanted to go to another photo and edit it. That’s gone with this update. Now you can stay in edit moved as you move between photos on Google Photos, increasing the speed at which you can edit photos while decreasing the number of clicks.