Google Photos Introduces Search with Emoji

Google Photos gets in on the April Fools’ Day action by introducing emoji search capabilities

We all know how powerful search in Google Photos can be, thanks to its versatile object image recognition capabilities. Now, though, they've taken it one step further with the introduction of...wait for it - emoji search!

Getting started is simple: instead of keying in your search term, you can now use its corresponding emoji. Of course, you'll get the same results - only this time it's much more fun. You're even given some suggested emoji to test out the feature for yourself.

Google Photos for Android adds Non-Destructive Editing

Google Photos v1.17 has been released for Android devices, bringing with it more flexible editing capabilities

This version may not be as noteworthy as last week’s Smarter Albums update, but for those who find themselves editing a photo countless number of times to give it the right look and feel, you’re sure to enjoy this one.

Previously on the Google Photos app, once you edited a photo, a duplicate would automatically be created. This meant if you modified an image multiple times, you’d have multiple copies, and you wouldn’t want to have lots of duplicates cluttering your collection, would you?

In version 1.17, duplicates are gone and instead you now have non-destructive editing. In other words, after you edit an image, you can save it as a new copy without overwriting the original photo. That way, you can easily revert to the unedited version in case you want to give the image a different editing treatment.

Smarter Albums arrive on Google Photos

Albums become even more intelligent on Google Photos, thanks to this latest update.

We all love taking photos when on holiday, especially in places we’ve never been to before. But sorting through all of those captures after coming home isn’t a lot of fun, to say the least, especially if you're the happy snapper-sort of photographer.

Fortunately, the team at Google Photos has come up with a solution to solve your woes by automatically creating an album of your trip with your best memories, saving you the time and hassle of going through the laborious process yourself. Plus, maps and location pins are included so that you’ll know exactly which places you visited.

Google Photos for iOS Updated with Live Photos Support

Google Photos on iOS now supports auto-backup of Live Photos and receives a few smaller updates.

With the latest version of iOS, released about 6 months ago, Apple added Live Photos to the list of features for it's smartphones. Live Photos captures a photo with sound and video before and after the moment the picture was taken to make your moments "living memories".

Of course, since Live Photos includes video and sound as a part of the file, it takes up more space than traditional pictures. This means that users will run out of space on their devices and in the 5GB of iCloud storage that Apple gives users. However, now that Google Photos supports the moving images, Apple users can feel free to turn on the feature and no longer worry about running out of space for their pictures.

Google Photos v1.15 for Android Released with Refreshed Navigation UI

Google Photos v1.15 for Android has gotten a (somewhat unexpected) UI update.

Gone are the swipe gestures that you could use when switching between views, and in its place is a white bottom bar: yes, you read that right - the feature on the Google+ app that’s been receiving lots of controversy from the outset - has made its way to Photos. Here, you can move between Assistant, Photos and Albums view - formerly Collections.

As mentioned above, another thing you’ll notice - once you get over that bottom bar ;) - is the renaming of Collections to Albums. I guess they did this to avoid confusion with G+ Collections, which kinda makes sense. The Albums view now has a scrolling carousel at the top, where you can find your Shared Albums, People, Places, Things, Videos, Collages, Animations, Movies, and Device Folders.

Shared Albums Makes its Debut in Google Photos

One of the most-awaited features in Google Photos finally sees the light of day.

It was during this year’s I/O that Google Photos, the rumoured-replacement of Google+ Photos, was unveiled, and though most of the features shown off were eventually released, there was one feature that took its sweet time to come out - until now.

With Shared Albums, your family and friends can now contribute their own photos and videos to those you’ve added in one, communal collation. All you have to do is select the memories you want to be shared, hit “Create” in the top-right corner, then choose “Create new Shared Album.” On the app, you can also highlight the photos and videos for the album, tap the share icon, then “New Shared Album” from the share menu.

Google Finally Starts Investing in Advertising with #EasyThrowback Campaign for Google Photos

Google reverts from it's usual trend of not promoting products by running an advertising campaign for Google Photos over multiple weeks.

Google is notorious for creating great products but not completely investing in advertising them so that they flop. A few things come to mind like Google Helpouts and Google Wallet. Wallet didn't completely die, but has now been split and rebranded, and, to be honest, it is probably only still around because Apple did a good enough job to promote touchless payments with Apple Pay.

However, it looks like they may be turning that around with Google Photos! Google is using the Twitter account they created for Google Photos to advertise on the social media network for the last four weeks. Every Thursday for the last four weeks, including Thursday, Google Photos has owned Twitter's Promoted Trend with the hashtag "#EasyThrowback" (seen below) to build off of the current conversation of "Throwback Thursday" that happens on the social media network every Thursday.

Google's #EasyThrowback Promoted Trend on Twitter

Google Photos 1.4 for iOS Adds People Labelling, Better Performance

This recent update for Photos for iOS adds two new features that bring it closer on par with the Android version.

Just a few days after the Photos 1.6 update for Android, Google has released Photos 1.4 for iOS, which includes people labelling, better performance, and other minor improvements.

First up is the people labelling feature, where you can now label and merge groups of people in search. You can even do more granular searches by combing people, place and thing search terms, such as "Gabriel at the airport in Sydney." Unfortunately, like on Android and desktop, this is still only available in the US, which is a real shame; if this was a global feature, it would definitely increase the appeal of Photos.

Google Announces Three Long-Awaited Photos Features

Shared Albums, people labelling and Chromecast support are finally coming to Google Photos.

In addition to the announcements of the new Nexus phones - the 5X and the 6P - as well as the new Pixel C tablet, the team at Google Photos has revealed and shown off Shared Albums, people labelling and Chromecast support.

Shared Albums essentially does what it says on the tin; multiple users can add photos and videos to an album, and when someone will add a photo to that album, everyone will get a notification. Plus, you can invite guests who can view the shared album and see updates in real-time as photos or videos are added. Shared Albums will be coming out later this year.

I can see this becoming a very useful feature for large gatherings or events like birthday parties or vacations, where everyone can just have one album for all their memories, instead of having them scattered across different social media profiles.

Photos For Web Adds Timestamp Editing and More

The Photos team has just come out with a slew of nice updates, including the ability to edit timestamps.

With the tech community still abuzz about Android M's official name (it's Marshmallow, if you haven't been in the loop!), the Google Photos team has been making a few announcements of their own - first with the launching of their own Photos product forum, and now with the release of a few much-awaited, if I may add, updates.

The most important of these is that you can now edit the timestamps on your photos - fantastic news for those who've scanned their precious memories and uploaded them to Photos, or simply forgot to have the correct timestamp on their digital cameras (I've done this a few times...). What's not fantastic, however, is that you can only edit the dates individually - that's right, individually, so if you have thousands of pictures to add dates to, be ready to have a lot of free time on your hands.

New Google Photos Product Forum Launch

Found yourself bit by the photography bug? Need a little guidance on getting the most out of organizing your photos? Want to know how you get back those unsaved Google Photos creations after swiping? 

Actually that last one's easy, but I'm confident you'd love to ask the Google Top Contributors more questions about Google Photos. Trust me, those are some helpful individuals!

Come on, you know you want to pick these experts' brains! Go say hello and share your favorite photo tips in the new Google Photos product forum.

#PayWithAPhoto comes to Google Photos on July 29

Something exciting is coming to Google Photos on July 29, according to a curious and cryptic video on their YouTube channel (which seems to have been dormant for the past two years!).

The mouthwatering nine-second video of waffles sizzling doesn't give a lot away - save for the Google Photos cardboard box and #paywithaphoto at the end - but according to a statement from Google on DroidLife, food trucks will be visiting New York City, Portland, Los Angeles and Austin from July 29, where customers can win prizes by using Photos' powerful search capabilities to look for specific items on their devices within a certain time limit. Details on the NYC dates and locations can be found in the article linked.

Google Photos for Android (v1.2) gets improved album management

If you're like me, you've been harnessing the new Google Photos app to make sense of your rat's nest of a picture gallery. Now you've got even more power to wield; don't let it go to your head.

We've been seeing a huge push for Google Photos since its launch earlier this year. Google's made us an offer we can't refuse by offering unlimited storage (photos up to 16 MP and videos up to 1080p resolution). What kind of push, you may ask? I'm talking about teaming up with BuzzFeed and Jurassic World. Impressive! Google's not pulling any punches this time around.

If you want to really learn the ropes for Google Photos, be sure to catch up with our Walkthrough of Google Photos on Android. The rest of this article will wait for you to come back once you're up to speed. For those ready to sink their teeth into the new stuff, read on!

A Walkthrough of Google Photos on Android

The new Google Photos service was launched just a couple of weeks ago. Below is a thorough look at what the Android app offers and how it stacks up.

After months of rumours swirling around, Google Photos was finally unveiled at I/O 2015 - the company's fresh take on storing an ever-increasing number of photos and videos hassle-free. With new gestures for easier viewing, automatic grouping of people, places and things, improved sharing capabilities, and a revamped editing suite, Photos is ready to face the competition head-on. But will Google's strategy work?

For the purposes of this article, I’ll be referring to the Google Photos app for Android devices, though the iOS and desktop versions have the same set of features - minus the gestures for the desktop - so just keep this in mind.

Preserve Your Memories - Jurassic World promotes Google Photos

Jurassic World is now promoting Google Photos in a new section on its official website.

The page showcases the new search capabilities of +Google Photos by showing places and things found in Jurassic World. They certainly spared no expense.

This is a great partnership and hopefully a way to introduce many more users to some of the great features offered by Google Photos. If you've been under a rock in the past couple of weeks, make sure to catch up by reading about the revamped and rebranded Photos here.