Google wants you to spend more time reliving meaningful moments on Google Photos.
The app, which is synonymous with Android phones, is used by over a billion people around the world to store and share photos and videos.
Now, Google is giving it a major update that puts the spotlight on Memories; a feature that shows you a collection of significant images, all handpicked by artificial intelligence, in an Instagram-style story. Think birthday parties, family reunions, summer getaways, or just cute pics of your cats.
Soon, Memories won’t just appear in a carousel atop the app or in notifications pinged to your phone, they’ll be found inside their own tab on Google Photos. Here, you’ll be able to browse the collections, organise and customise them with the help of AI, and collaborate on them with others.
Google says the redesign will help to preserve everyone’s Memories, which risk getting lost amid the ephemera on our phones, from blurry videos to duplicate images. This clutter may also explain why your Google Cloud storage keeps running out.
As part of the update, you’ll finally be able to create your own Memories, save your fave collections to the new tab, and add or remove specific images that pop up in the timeline.
If you think a story is incomplete, you’ll be able to invite others to add their own photos and videos to it. This sounds like a useful way to build out collections from group occasions and gatherings, such as weddings and holidays. It could also come in handy if your significant other takes better photos than you.
How to use AI to name Memories in Google Photos
Google’s AI will also be on hand to offer a jolt of inspiration when it comes to naming your Memories. Tapping the “Help me title” button will prompt the system to generate titles for your stories. You can even guide the bot toward important details by clicking the “add hint” button. And, if you don’t like the results, you can tell the AI to start again.
Google admits that the tech won’t always get things right, but it reckons it will get smarter over time. Soon, Google Photos will also offer to create shareable videos of your Memories for social media and messaging apps.
The new design is making its way to Google Photos users in the US starting today and globally in the coming months.
