Google Photos

Google Photos launches shared albums

Christian Zibreg ∙ December 10, 2015

As promised back in September, Google Photos has now begun rolling out shared albums on the web and in its mobile apps for iOS and Android.

Arriving just in time for the holiday season, a shared album allows friends and family to add photos to it. Those who have joined a shared album will receive a notification about any changes and newly uploaded photos.

If it sounds similar to Apple's own iCloud Photo Sharing, that's because it is, with one crucial difference: shared albums on Google Photos aren’t designed for a social world—you can't like, comment on or caption them.

New space-saving features coming soon to Google Photos for iOS

Christian Zibreg ∙ November 17, 2015

If your iPhone is constantly running out of free storage space—and your Camera roll is packed to the gills—you'll be delighted to know that Google is rolling out new space-saving features to the Google Photos app.

Google Photos for iOS will soon bring out a brand new “Free up space” option in settings and will keep track of your phone’s storage space for you and tell you when backed up photos should be removed from your device.

Google Photos gains people labeling and animation sharing to WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger

Christian Zibreg ∙ October 2, 2015

As promised, the Internet giant Google today pushed an update to its Photos for iPhone and iPad app in the App Store. Bumped to version 1.4, the software has gained some of the features Google promised to enable before the end of this year. For starters, you can now label people in photos and merge face groups so they're easier to search.

Chromecast support, people labeling and shared albums coming to Google Photos

Christian Zibreg ∙ September 29, 2015

In addition to a pair of new Nexus smartphones and an upcoming $14.99 Google Play Music family tier, the search giant dedicated a few minutes of stage time at its media even this morning to the mobile Photos app, which launched on iOS and Android in May 2015.

An upcoming update to Google Photos, the company said, will add a few missing features to the software, like people labelling, Chromecasting, album collaboration and more.

Google Photos for iOS gains photo reordering, selective backup, better sharing and more

Christian Zibreg ∙ September 3, 2015

Less than two weeks following a refresh that brought out a Timehop-like feature for rediscovering your photos from the past, Google Photos for the iPhone and iPad on Thursday received another noteworthy update.

The new Google Photos 1.3 for iOS introduces four distinct improvements to your photo-management workflow, like the ability to reorder photos in your library and another one letting you selectively back up individual photos and videos.

Google Photos gains Timehop-like blasts from the past, new sharing options and more

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated October 14, 2018

Google's standalone Photos application for the iPhone and iPad today received an update in the App Store, bringing a few new sharing options and other enhancements to your on the go photo-management experience.

Google Photos 1.2 for iOS, a free download in the App Store, will also show you photos and videos from the past so you can take a brief walk down memory lane, a new feature provided in the form of cards in the Assistant view.

How to move pictures from the Mac Photos app to Google Photos

Ankur Thakur ∙ Updated March 22, 2022

This complete guide shows you how to upload photos and videos stored inside your Mac's Photos app (your entire macOS Photo Library) or a Finder folder to Google Photos. We show you both automatic and manual methods.

Poll: how does Google Photos compare to Apple’s Photos app + iCloud Photo Library combo?

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated October 14, 2018

Among a flurry of yesterday's announcements at the Google I/O developer conference, the Internet giant launched Google Photos, its brand spanking new photography service available across iOS, Android and on the web. It offers unlimited storage (with a few caveats) and has many other compelling features that give Apple's iCloud Photo Library a fairly good run for its money.

To name but a few: world-class facial recognition that understands aging, sleek design, fast performance, unmatched search and machine intelligence, the ability to create a movie, collage or animated GIF in seconds and more.

The question is, will you be turning to Google Photos as a backup solution for the media you've amassed on your iOS device? Or, perhaps you'll be sticking with Apple's iCloud Photo Library even though it offers a meager five gigabytes of free cloud storage? Planning on using Google Photos alongside iCloud Photo Library, are we? Not a big fan of either service, you say?

Tell us in today's poll!

The fine print of Google Photos and why you shouldn’t ditch iCloud Photo Library just yet

Christian Zibreg ∙ May 29, 2015

I jumped with joy after reading Cody's coverage of Google Photos. I mean, who wouldn't want a sleek photo service across iOS, Android and the web that came with truly unlimited storage, right?

Here's an iCloud Photo Library user who's been paying Apple happily 99 cents month-to-month for the privilege of using a meager twenty gigabytes of iCloud storage.

But I have a confession to make: I need way more storage for all my photos and am reluctant to fork out five bucks a month in exchange for just 200 gigs of iCloud storage.

Having said that, before you ditch Apple's iCloud Photo Library solution for Google Photos, here are a few facts Google didn't emphasize enough that you should consider.

Google announces new ‘Photos’ cloud service with free unlimited storage

Cody Lee ∙ Updated April 18, 2018

Google hosted its annual developer conference this morning where it talked about Android M, Android Pay and other initiatives. It also announced a new cloud-based storage service for your photos and videos called Google Photos, and it's available on iOS today.

At first, Google Photos sounds a lot like iCloud Photo Library and other storage services: automatic back ups, integration with compatible apps, quick editing and sharing tools, and the ability to sort by various metrics. But there a few features that set Photos apart.

Google updates Picasa, adds Google+ Auto Backup standalone Mac tool

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 26, 2016

Google has been offering its standalone Picasa Mac app for years and while it may lack ease of use and elegance of Apple's own iPhoto and Aperture software, by no means is it a slouch.

Matter of fact, I've been using the program for years as my primary point of entry for sorting, geotagging and organizing images in folders prior to importing them to Aperture for advanced touch ups and album management.

But aside from maintenance updates, Picasa for Mac spent much of 2013 unchanged in terms of features, so much so that I began to suspect that Google could perhaps discontinue it in order to make room for a standalone Google+ Photos app for the Mac.

Instead, yesterday's update has proven there's still life left in Picasa. In addition to a few new features and complementary fixes, the improved Picasa also brings out a brand new standalone tool allowing you to synchronize a batch of photos and videos residing on your Mac with Google+ Photos...

Google+ gains full-res photo/video backup, location sharing, inline translation and more

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated December 4, 2013

The search monster Google has posted another update to its Google+ app for the iPhone and iPad, this time bringing a new iOS 7 perk: the ability to upload your iOS Camera roll photos and videos automatically and in glorious full resolution, to a private album on Google+ Photos, viewable only by you (unless specified otherwise). This brings the iOS app to parity with its Android counterpart.

It's really useful because your photos get sent to the cloud in the background, even if you haven't opened the app. You could previously enable Camera backup in Google+, but this would not back up full resolution images and the app would upload for only a few minutes after it quit.

It's a very interesting addition that turns the Google+ thing into a viable cloud backup of your iOS Camera roll. This Google+ update comes with other tweaks and nice-to-haves so jump past the fold if you're interested to learn more...