Google Photos is one of the company's most popular apps and today they are rolling out an update that will greatly improve the way we share photos and videos as well as introduce a new automatic creation feature called “concept movies.”
Join us after the break for more.
Our smartphones are the default cameras for the majority of us and while keeping our masses of photos organized is very important, we also want the ability to quickly share these moments with the people in our lives. Starting today, Google Photos will be updated with a new sharing method that focuses on the people, rather than the app, you want to share with. When you select one or more photos or videos and hit the share button, all you need to do is select the people you want to share with and the app will take care of the rest. If the person also uses Google Photos they will receive a notification and be able to view the media directly in the app. For non-Google Photos users they will automatically receive a direct link via email or SMS (depending on how you share with each specific contact).
Before this update, you had to share with your contacts on a “per-app” basis (person A likes email, person B uses WhatsApp, etc) and it could take longer than it was worth sometimes, so now it will be much easier. It's unclear at this time if the people that appear in the initial share window are simply your most recently talked to contacts, or if you can assign groups or favorites.
The other big feature rolling out with this update is a new take on the movies that Google Photos automatically creates. Currently with the app, if you go on a trip, for example, shortly after you come back you may see a movie that was automatically made from some of the photos and videos you took while away. While this is certainly a nice and helpful thing to see, it has always been restricted to groups of recently uploaded media only. The new “concept movies” will make use of Google's image recognition algorithms to create movies based on themes, such as your child growing up over the years.
Here is an example of that from Google's announcement:
This particular concept will be the first one available, but Google says they will be releasing a couple more concepts later this week, with even more coming out down the road. Google Photos already does a great job at filtering your photo collection by specific people, places, and things so it will be interesting to see what other concepts they have planned.
If you already have Google Photos except the update pushed to your device starting today! You can also grab the app below. Are you excited about these changes?
Source: Google
