Google Photos is an app designed to automatically backup and store photographs and videos on your device, and to find and share them with friends.
The app is intuitive and straightforward to use, offering features such as automatically organizing photos into albums (based on people or places); searching photos for words like Boston, camping or snow; as well as instant edits.
Organize your photos
Google Photos offers more than just digital storage, it also contains tools for you to enjoy memories, organize and edit photos, create videos, collages and photo books with them and interact with friends and family via shared albums.
Here are a few tips for making the most of Google Photos:
To organize photos by date, go into an album and tap on the three-dot symbol in the upper-right-hand corner. From here, you can choose to view images by day, week or month – this feature may come in especially handy when searching for photos on specific subjects! You may also wish to organize by subject matter which can make searching much simpler when trying to locate specific shots.
Tagging people and pets in photos is another useful way to organize them, while using Google’s search feature to quickly locate any duplicate images that might have already been uploaded. Google will automatically label similar ones that it finds, making this particularly helpful when dealing with large digital libraries that may otherwise become scattered and disorganized.
Google Photos makes sharing albums easy by enabling you to easily share albums with friends and family, who can access and download any images they need from your account. Plus, with automatic photo sharing enabled, new uploads will automatically go straight into shared albums of loved ones far away, making Google Photos an effective means of staying in contact while offering an alternative method for sending images – perfect for keeping in touch!
Create a new album to automatically group photos of specific people or pets, and the app will fill it as you upload new images. Plus, multiple albums provide fast image relocation simply by dragging-and-dropping each photo in or out.
Google Photos makes an excellent tool for freeing up space on your phone or tablet by deleting photos and videos that have already been stored safely online, and freeing up space by removing duplicate photos that exist both locally on your device as well as elsewhere, such as social media apps like Facebook.
Back up your photos
To keep your photos secure, backing them up to Google’s cloud is an effective solution. Doing this ensures they will always be available even if your device becomes lost or damaged, with 15GB of free storage provided and add-on space available as needed if necessary. Plus, the backups are automatically uploaded when connecting via Wi-Fi or mobile data!
Your storage options include uploading all file types or just photos and videos, along with selecting whether you want your backups compressed or not. For DSLR users or those planning on printing photos from them directly from your camera, opting not to compress your backups could save space – something especially helpful if your internet bandwidth is limited.
Alternately, you could back up your files onto a physical hard drive for added peace of mind and security. Unfortunately, however, this method takes more time and requires more resources in terms of data transference.
Once your backup has been created, it is easy to access via Google Photos app – by tapping your account avatar at the top right. Alternatively, click on the gear icon in order to change your settings by selecting ‘Back up & sync’ in the drop down menu.
As long as you are signed in to Google Photos with an active Google account, any photos and video you upload are stored in high-quality free of charge. Automatic uploads may use lower quality versions; full-sized media downloads can be obtained by selecting the photo then tapping its three-dot button; additionally you can change backup locations as well as create archive downloads through this page.
If you no longer wish for Google Photos to backup your device’s data, removing it won’t delete your backups but will prevent its operation and prevent you from linking back up later. This step may be essential if you use Gmail, Docs, or any other apps which sync up with your Google account.
Share your photos with friends and family
Google Photos is an easy and cost-effective way to share high-quality images and videos with family, friends, partners, and business associates in an uncomplicated and efficient manner. Its cloud backups, powerful search features, and automated management make it a fantastic option.
Though Google Photos provides many advantages, it still may not be suitable for everyone – after all, not every person has an Android phone that supports the Google Photos app.
Google has introduced a feature known as “Partner Sharing,” which enables users to easily create shared albums that can be easily accessible by anyone invited into an album. This makes it especially helpful for families as you keep tabs on all the images and videos your loved ones are taking.
To take advantage of this feature, simply open Google Photos app and navigate to its “Share” tab. From there, select all photos or videos you would like to share and either use the Messages app directly for sending them or generate a link that can be shared socially or via other messaging apps like iMessage and WhatsApp.
Once you’ve selected photos to share, it’s easy to tag people or add notes or descriptions for others to understand each image or video you share – just be mindful not to disclose sensitive details as these will become publicly viewable by all other users.
Once your images are captured, simply tap ‘Share’ to post them on Google+, Facebook and Twitter – or choose to send via text messaging or email instead – where a pop-up window allows you to further personalize and select how you wish to distribute your content.
One key thing to keep in mind when uploading photos and videos to Google Photos is that each will count towards your 15GB storage limit (which also shares space with Gmail and other Google productivity apps). You can check on individual files by tapping them, or upgrade to one of Google One plans for unlimited storage and more photo editing features.
Edit your photos
Google Photos is an impressive image editing app with a host of tools to enhance and perfect your images. From filters and light/color adjustments, to cropping features and much more – everything is covered!
Once you’ve loaded an image in the app, tap on the Edit icon to enter editing mode. A Suggestions tab at the top offers various effects; tap each one for previewing purposes before making your decision on which to use. After applying an effect you can tap again on it to adjust its intensity using its slider; once satisfied with your final result hit Done to save all changes.
Beyond filter-based effects, you can also perform basic editing tasks such as cropping your photo and rotating it manually or automatically. Within the edit menu there’s also a Sharpen tool which sharpens images without losing quality, while you can make your photos warmer or colder by altering their temperature or tint. Furthermore, there’s even an option that alters sky colour for dramatic images.
Google Photos offers another unique feature to mark up photos with pens or highlighters: you can use this tool to write notes or draw frames around images; highlight certain areas within a photo, select specific portions for highlight, select an entire image to highlight or even create movies using them all! Finally, the app offers an option to turn all these memories into movies!
If an effect does not suit your taste, simply tap its blue-highlighted version to remove it. For multiple effects added simultaneously, each individual effect must be deleted individually to be completely deleted from your image. All edits are stored nondestructively so if something goes amiss with editing you can always revert back. With back up and sync enabled your edited photos will also automatically appear across devices.
