Google has given its photo management app a redesign. Like Google Maps recently, the new version of Google Photos has received a new logo in addition to new functions.
Five years after announcing Google Photos, the search engine giant is giving its popular image service a major update. According to the company, the focus of the new version is on new functions that should help to relive personal memories. According to Google, Google Photos is used by a billion people every month
Google Photos Update: New look for old photos
According to Google , the refreshed look of the image management tool provides new possibilities for app navigation on iOS and Android. The redesign makes it possible, among other things, to better highlight one’s own favorite pictures from the past, explains the company. The new app for the two major mobile platforms finally brings a long-desired function with a map view, with which photos and videos can be explored according to their locations.
The new version of the Photos app is divided into three tabs – Photos, Search and Library. The search is at the center of the new application, according to Google. In the Photos tab , all photos and videos are displayed, but they are now presented in larger thumbnails with less white space. Videos are automatically played according to Google. At the top there is also a larger “memory carousel”.
As photo libraries continue to grow, a search function becomes more and more important. Therefore, Google puts the search more in the foreground in order to enable quick access to the “most important people, places and things”. There is also a new interactive map view.
Google Photos app with a new map view. (Image: Google)
The most important contact points for the photo library are collected in the new Library tab. This includes albums, favorites, a recycle bin, as well as the archive and more, according to Google. If you are in the USA, the EU or Canada, you also have access to the print store, where you can have photo books and more printed.
The Google Photos app comes with a pimped up reminders function. (Image: Google)
Since Google is a big fan of messaging apps – such a function is even built into Maps – the company is also building one in its photo app. A tap on the speech bubble in the upper area of the app opens a list of released photos including all conversations that may have been held about them.
The new Google Photos logo
The new Google Photos logo. (GIF: Google)
To illustrate the further development of the service, Google has also refreshed the logo. Originally, the Google Photos app icon was supposed to be modeled on a pinwheel as a reference to childhood and nostalgia. With the redesign, it was refreshed and simplified, explains the company. The familiar shape of the wind turbine should be retained. According to Google, the new version of the Google Photos app will be released for Android and iOS in the course of next week.