Google Photos

AI has taken over basically everything in tech. Whether it’s search, social media, or basically every other app on your phone, AI is just everywhere. It demands your attention and is often not optional, but Google Photos just showcased an increasingly rare example of building out AI features with a sense of compromise and care for the end user.

In addition to beginning a wider rollout of Ask Photos, Google Photos today detailed improvements to Ultra HDR, while there’s now “Screenshots & recordings” on the web.

After “early access” testing got underway in October, Google Photos is now bringing Ask Photos to more eligible users in the US and making the AI search experience feel faster.

Google teased Material 3 Expressive for Photos last month, and one part of it — a redesign of the albums view — is now live on Android. QR code sharing for albums is also now available following last week’s announcement.

Google Photos was announced at I/O 2015 and the company is now celebrating the app’s 10th birthday with a redesign of the photo editor.

In a change to how Google Photos shares images, a new “Quick Edit” page appears before sharing options appear. Here’s how to disable that page for quicker sharing.

A focus has been placed on editing tools that change how users approach group photos and shared experiences. Those AI tools would be great if they allowed users to make adjustments after they’d already been shared. It seems that is exactly what Google Photos will now allow users to do.

One of the best things about Google Photos has always been its useful ability to search through your library, but the company’s focus on AI introduced an admittedly impressive, but annoying new experience to search. But there’s a little known shortcut in Google Photos that allows users to quickly jump back into classic search.

A new function in Google Photos is starting to roll out that gives users a last chance to edit photos before they’re shared. The new “Quick Edit” page will now appear in Google Photos after hitting the share button.

After previewing last month, the Google Photos app/Extension/integration is now rolling out to the Gemini app on Android.

Last month, Google renamed Gemini Extensions and previewed an upcoming Google Photos “app,” with more details on how it works now available. 

The big development for Google Photos in the past year is the Gemini-powered “Ask Photos,” but that shouldn’t overshadow a series of redesigns that feels like it concluded with the simplified bottom bar that rolled out earlier this week.

Google Photos is more widely rolling out a simplified bottom bar that removes the “Memories” tab on Android.

Google Photos is reverting a change that prevents some photos from being included in the Partner Sharing feature following user feedback, and now it’s optional.

Makers of digital photo frames have long used the Google Photos APIs to transfer your images and videos to their devices. Google this month is implementing API changes that break those integrations, but is offering an alternate approach.

Google looks to be bringing the Google Photos slideshows on Nest Hub, Chromecast, and Google TV to more “eligible,” third-party devices.