If you've ever owned one of the best Android phones, you've probably used the Google Photos app. It comes pre-installed as part of the Google suite for most phones, with some even using it as the default gallery app.
And it looks like the app has just snagged a cool upgrade, which makes it easer than ever to keep your albums organised. That's according to the folks over at Android Authority, who noticed the change recently.
Most photo apps these days employ facial recognition. That picks out the face of subjects in your photos, allowing you to categorise and view galleries of images containing specific people.
But now, Google appears to have taken that to another level. As reported above, the app now seems capable of identifying people from the back of their head, too.
It's not quite clear how this works. It's possible that Google uses the library of other tagged images to build a sort of 3D head model, thus knowing who's who without facial characteristics. It's also entirely possible that other images taken in a similar place and location allows the AI to deduce the subject – if someone is wearing the same outfit two minutes and 50m apart, chances are it's the same person.
The app doesn't go as far as tagging the subject, though. Instead, a suggestion is made, which you can opt to include or not. It's also not 100% accurate. The reporter listed above suggests that around 80-85% of images have the option, with a few still seemingly unable to be identified.
It's definitely a cool addition. It should make it easier than ever for users to tag and collate images of people they've snapped pictures of. That's a really handy feature, and it's nice to see that Google are still innovating with it to make it even better.
