Google announced that Google Photos has been “redesigned” in celebration of its 5 years anniversary.
“Five years ago, we noticed that people were struggling to manage their photos and videos—there wasn’t a place to keep them all, storage was disorganized, and it was hard to find specific photos. We designed Google Photos to solve these problems and since then more than one billion people use the app each month.” said the company.
A new and simpler Google Photos experience
In addition to making photos and videos even more prominent, the search feature is now even more cool, with a new three-tab structure:
- Photos: The main tab that contains all photos and videos. Now with larger thumbnails, video clips and less space between images. At the top, you can see a large carousel called “Memories”.
- Search: Now it is possible to find the people, places and things you like easily. There is also an interactive map that shows the location of the photos.
- Library: The “library” tab brings together the most important places in the photo library, Albums, Favorites, Trash, Archive, etc. Users in the United States, the European Union and Canada can purchase products printed with their images.
In the upper left corner, you can find the shared content. Just tap the “conversation” button to view.
Today we’re rolling out a new, simplified Google Photos experience to help you find and relive your memories.
— Google Photos (@googlephotos) June 25, 2020
https://t.co/4IXKnkSqkK pic.twitter.com/ky9q62sLBx
Map view
Search tab brings a visualization in the form of an interactive map, gathering your photos and videos. According to Google, this feature has been one of the most requested features by users since the launch of Google Photos. Just zoom in or out with the tweezers to explore travel photos, see the most photographed places near your home, or find that image you recorded in the middle of the road while traveling by car. It is possible to organize and search for photos by location in the app, for those who enabled the location on the device's camera, the Location History or the location filled in by hand. Users who wish to change this setting can control edits or disable Location History and permission to use location on the camera.
Memoirs
In the second half of 2019, Google Photos introduced the Memories feature , which takes you back to the cool memories of previous years. This ended up becoming one of the users' favorite tabs: each month, more than 120 million people click on their Memories. Now, new types of Memories have been added, like the best photos of you with friends and family in different years, or the highlights of the last week. The images created automatically by Google Photos (movies, collages, animations, stylized photos and others) which was available on “For you” tab (which no longer exists) are now aavailable in “Memories”. But, all memories doesn't make you happy. So, it is possible to hide specific people or periods, as well as control the type of Memory the user receives.
Icon with a new look
The first Google Photos icon was inspired by a pinwheel - a reference to missing the fun things from childhood. Starting today, this icon will have a new and simpler look, without losing the well-known shape.