Google Photos is both an app and a website that primarily helps you store photos, share photos and organize photos. While the platform used to be free, as of June 1, 2021, it is only free up to 15GB of storage. The reasoning behind the move is Google wants users to join their subscription service, Google One.
Using google photos
You can upload photos to the platform manually and from your computer, or you can set it so your photos are automatically uploaded into Google Photos from your phone. This is helpful if you take a lot of photos with your phone because you can then erase the photos on your phone to save space.
In addition to storing and sharing photos, you can also order prints, create albums (virtually or you can order a hard copy), create movies (the app has templates you can select like “create a movie of my selfies”), make animations and more.
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backing up photos
If you want to back up your photos beyond the platform, you can back up photos to your Google Drive. Be careful though because this will eat into your Google Drive’s storage. Or as of June 2021, you can do so using Google One.
If you’re using the platform for free with limited storage, then you may want to choose to upload compressed files to Google Photos to save space.
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Artificial Intelligence
The platform is smart. It can group media for you automatically, and create things like collages or movies based on dates, people and places. It can also make GIFs from photos taken back-to-back or it can add motion to photos if they were taken as Live iPhone photos.
You can search on the platform. It also suggests searches for you, such as “sunsets” or “swimming” based on what photos you upload.
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other features
Google Photos lets you back up physical photos using your phone. It can also sort photos by location. You can edit videos in the app as well, from adding filters to cutting length or adjusting color and light.
And this is a very cool feature. It lets you copy texts from photos:
drawbacks
It does have some drawbacks though. One issue users complain about are duplicates. There is no easy way to get rid of duplicate photos unless you manually erase them.
This link has more information on getting rid of duplicates, and suggests doing it through here https://photos.google.com/search/_tra_ where your uploads are sorted by date.
Also, keep in mind that you’re potentially uploading a lot of personal information as well as material that can help Google with facial recognition among other things. So yes, it’s a cool platform but always be aware of your privacy when sharing things online.
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