Pick up your phone and open up the camera roll. How many photos do you have in there? Google launched Google Photos, a new photo app that offers unlimited storage, and helps search and manage your photos. As someone who takes millions photos of food and travel, Google Photos makes it easy for me to find any photo I want in a matter of seconds. No more mindless scrolling through my photo library!
The Google Photos food truck rolled into Austin a couple of weeks ago with the #PayWithAPhoto challenge. Find a photo. Get a cupcake.
No money accepted at the Google Photos food truck. Instead, you had to successfully complete the #PayWithAPhoto challenge to get a yummy cupcake! You’re given a search term like “boat,” “bike,” or “rainbow” and then you have to find a photo in your photo library in 20 seconds or less.
I already had all of my photos backed up to the Google Photos app so I easily searched for “boat” in the Google Photos app and found a photo. SCORE! Cupcakes are mine!
What is Google Photos?
Google Photos is like Gmail for photos. It’s the easiest and most convenient photo management service that helps you organize and search through your photos. When you first download the Google Photos app for iPhone or Android, your photos in the camera roll will start backing up to Google’s servers. Bonus, there’s unlimited storage if you choose the option of compressing your images larger than 16MP, which is perfect for posting to web.
There’s no way I could have found any photo in my photo library in 20 seconds. Here’s how Google Photos will change your life.
Animated GIFS. The app can create animated GIFS out of a a burst of similar photos or even combine videos and photos into a movie. The drag and drop tool makes it easy to check or uncheck photos.
Location search. Your photos are sorted into folders of where you were when you took the photo. For me, all my photos are sorted into Austin, Dallas, Miami, Miami South Beach, Cozumel, and Belize.
Facial recognition. Google Photos excels at finding faces in photos and also recognizes places based on popular landmarks or characteristics. Google Photos even helps me find photos of my dog!
“Rediscover this day”. The “rediscover this day” feature displays cards that tell you where you were and who you were with on that day.
Google Photos “Assistant”. The assistant automatically recommends albums and collages to create based on what you’ve uploaded. You can swipe to dismiss the suggestions or let the app do its magic.
Google+. All photos are automatically synced to your Gmail, which makes it super easy to share photos over email and on Google+.
Created in partnership with Google Photos.
