Google announced that Google Photos with Locked Folder functionality would soon become available on more Android devices, and Google One VPN is coming to more regions.
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Another Pixel-exclusive feature that's making its way to all Android smartphones.
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Now that you have to pay to store your media online, why not look for the best options available?
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Starting today - that is June 1 - Google Photos no longer offers free cloud storage for your pictures and videos.
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Google Photos' free compressed unlimited cloud storage is no more. Maybe I should use Plex for my mobile photo management instead? Let's see how that turns out.
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Google Photos will use AI to create artificial frames that fill the movement gap between two similar photos for making a cinematic moment.
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As of now, the Pixel 3a and newer devices get unlimited “High quality” backup with Photos compressed to 16MP.
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Google is testing a new option to help you easily sort through your photo gallery. Jane Manchun Wong, a credible reverse engineer has spotted the presence of a ‘Filter’ button seemingly in the Android version of Google Photos. The new option is said to give you more filter options while searching through Google Photos. It could allow you to club these options together for a more refined search. There is no official confirmation of the development of this feature. However, much of what Wong spots makes its way to the apps sooner or later.
Wong tweeted about the latest discovery in Google Photos on Wednesday. It looks like the feature is a work-in-progress for search refinement feature In Google Photos for Android. A new Filters button can be seen below the search bar. Moreover, it shows options for selfies, videos, archive, and motion photos. You also get suggestions next to the Filter button. The feature is currently being tested. Hence, it is unclear if/when it will roll out to the app.
For reference, Google Photos allows you to search with filters like selfies, videos, screenshots, motion photos, PhotoScan, and 360 photos, and more in the categories section. The new Filter button is likely to make these categories more accessible and widely known. The company recently added some new features to its Photos app on Android and desktop. It rolled out a new video editor for the Android app. This allows you to crop, add filters, color grade, adjust contrast, saturation, and brightness.
Google Photos is also due for a change on June 1, 2021. Starting that date, the company will be ending Google Photos’ free unlimited storage benefit and will start charging for the storage space over the 15GB quota.
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Owning a Pixel smartphone comes with a few perks, and one of them includes access to some exclusive image editing features in the Google Photos app. Now, Google is bringing those Pixel-exclusive image editing tricks to all users, but at a price. And that price comes in the form of a Google One subscription that costs $1.99 per month in the US.
As for the new image editing features that are now expanding to all Google Photos users, the first one is Portrait Blur. As the name makes it abundantly clear, it will allow users to add a background blur effect to their photos using some machine learning magic – even if those photos were not captured using portrait mode.
The second one is Portrait Light, and this one lets users improve the lighting on the subject. You can either choose to do it manually by controlling the direction from which light falls on the subject, or apply a portrait lighting preset that does the job without any fine inputs from your side.
Additionally, Google One subscribers will also get access to a few advanced tricks that apply complex editing effects with a simple tap. One of them is Dynamic suggestions, which intelligently adjusts attributes such as brightness and contrast across the whole image wherever it is necessary. There is a similar Sky feature, which lets users boost the background sky’s appearance in their photos by adjusting the color profile.
All the four aforementioned image editing features in Google Photos will start appearing for Google One subscribers in the upcoming days. However, Google says that your phone needs to pack at least 3 gigs of RAM and should run Android 8 or a later version to take advantage of the new image enhancement tricks.
In case you have a Pixel smartphone, you will be able to use the above-listed tools without paying for a Google One membership. However, existing image editing tools in Google Photos with a similar premise such as Blur and Color Pop will continue to be accessible for all without requiring any Google One subscription.
Google is adding some new tricks to the native video editor in Google Photos as well. It now allows users to perform more granular edits to their videos by controlling brightness, contrast, warmth, and saturation. Additionally, users will be able to crop their videos, add filters and also change the perspective. The video editing tricks are already available on iOS, and will arrive on the Android version of Google Photos in the coming weeks.
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Yesterday’s Google announcement to make some changes to its storage policies came as a shock to most of us. These changes include a new auto-delete policy for accounts that are inactive and for users who have surpassed their storage limits. However, these aren’t the only changes that are coming, as it seems that Google won’t offer free unlimited storage in Google Photos with future Pixel devices.
It seems that this may be a great moment to buy a new Google Pixel device if you’re interested in free, unlimited Google Photos backups. Google’s latest changes to its storage policies will start taking effect on June 1, 2021. This means that from that date, any new photo and video you upload will count toward the free 15GB storage each user receives with his or her Google account. Further, any new document will also add up to a users’ limit.
Now, things don’t stop there, as Google has also announced that future Google Pixel devices won’t include unlimited ‘high-quality’ Google Photo backups while existing Pixel devices will continue to do so. This is because every Google Pixel device before the Google Pixel 5 will be exempt from Google’s policy change.
“If you back up your photos and videos in Original quality, these changes do not affect you. As always, your Original quality photos and videos will continue to count toward your 15 GB of free storage across your Google Account.
“If you have a Pixel 1-5, photos uploaded from that device won’t be impacted. Photos and videos uploaded in High quality from that device will continue to be exempt from this change, even after June 1, 2021.”
In other words, the latest Google Pixel a4 and Pixel 5 may be your best option to avoid paying $1.99 per month if you want 100GB of storage space to keep your future pictures, videos and documents backed up. And you must also remember to check your accounts every now and then to stop the automatic deletion of your files.
Source Google
Via Android Central
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Google has made a couple of announcements this morning that may not seem so great. These announcements include changes to its Google Account and Google Photos’ storage policies that include new auto-delete policies.
Google’s first announcement goes towards the storage changes that will primarily affect Photos.
“Starting June 1, 2021, any new photos and videos you upload will count toward the free 15 GB of storage that comes with every Google Account or the additional storage you’ve purchased as a Google One member. Your Google Account storage is shared across Drive, Gmail and Photos. This change also allows us to keep pace with the growing demand for storage. And, as always, we uphold our commitment to not use information in Google Photos for advertising purposes. We know this is a big shift and may come as a surprise, so we wanted to let you know well in advance and give you resources to make this easier.”
However, Pixel phones will be exempted from these new rules, as they will continue to offer unlimited “High Quality” backups. These backups compress large photos to 16-megapixels, while videos with higher resolution than 1080p will be resized to this format. On a positive note, any photo or video uploaded in high quality before June 1, 2021, won’t count toward the users 15GB free storage space, so you should consider hacking up everything in HQ before this date.
Now, Google has also announced that Docs, Sheets, Slides, and more will also start to count towards users’ 15GB limit starting on June 2021. The company also announced that if users are inactive for two years, it may delete the contents that reflect inactivity, and this would also apply to users who are over the storage limit for two years.
“We’re introducing new policies for consumer accounts that are either inactive or over their storage limit across Gmail, Drive (including Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, Drawings, Forms and Jamboard files) and/or Photos to better align with common practices across the industry. After June 1:
“If you’re inactive in one or more of these services for two years (24 months), Google may delete the content in the product(s) in which you’re inactive.
“Similarly, if you’re over your storage limit for two years, Google may delete your content across Gmail, Drive and Photos.
“We will notify you multiple times before we attempt to remove any content so you have ample opportunities to take action. The simplest way to keep your account active is to periodically visit Gmail, Drive or Photos on the web or mobile, while signed in and connected to the internet.”
In other words, keep checking your Gmail, Drive, and Photos every now and then, just to avoid unpleasant surprises.
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Google Photos on iOS has landed a host of useful video editing tools with the v5.8 update that include framing, light tuning, color adjustment, filters and more. Notably, these video editing tools are yet to appear in the Google Photos app for Android, but are currently under the test phase with no concrete date for a wider rollout via the stable channel.
Talking about the new image editing tools in Google Photos for iOS, they can be accessed by tapping on the edit button after you open a video in the app. You can choose from a limited selection of filters that can be applied to videos, just the way they work for still photos. In addition to it, you can also trim or rotate the video to a specified angle.
Lastly, there are two other editing options called light and color. Under the light dropdown, you’ll find controls for exposure, contrast, shadows, highlights, and more. The color option, on the other hand, will let you play with attributes such as saturation, warmth, tint and skin tone to name a few.
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Google has today announced that it is temporarily disabling image backups for media shared via messaging apps such as WhatsApp and Facebook. The change is being made in an effort to conserve internet resources and save bandwidth as people are sharing more media than ever while they are stuck at home during the ongoing pandemic.
“Due to COVID-19, people are sharing more photos and videos. To save internet resources, backup & sync has been turned off for device folders created by messaging apps like WhatsApp, Messages, and Kik,” the message in the Google Photos community forum said. However, the image backups feature can still be turned on by users.
As for the apps themselves, an APK teardown of the Google Photos app’s latest version (via XDA-Developers) suggests that backups have been disabled for WhatsApp, Messenger, Snapchat, Twitter, Facebook, Helo, Instagram, LINE, Messages, and Viber. A notification will inform users that image backups have been disabled in Google Photos, so that they can take the necessary action.
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