The latest update to the Google Photos is bringing in a couple of new nifty features. Google Photos has become the defacto photo gallery for most of us. The cloud upload feature with auto clean and the free unlimited upload plan has been its forte. However, the only way you could separate your favorite photos from the rest was to either archive the photos or create a new folder and put it out there.
Thanks to the update, Google Photos will now offer a star-shaped “Favourites” button and a heart-shaped “Like” button. The “Star” button will only appear in your own photo gallery and is aimed at allowing you to mark a favorite photo. Meanwhile, the app will also populate a separate folder for all of your Favourite photos.
The Heart Icon on the Google Photos is more of a revamped version of the “Like” button. What this means is that you now have a way to tell which is your favorite photo of your family and friends. All one needs to do is click on “Heart” icon and this will be saved as a metadata and will be reproduced everytime the photo is opened. That being said the “Heart” photos will not be moved into a separate folder. So the gist of it is as follows, Like button for your personal reference, and the Heart button for family and friends.
It’s OK to play favorites. Rolling out this week, tap the ⭐️ button to mark a photo as a favorite. Head to the Albums tab and view all your favorites in one place. pic.twitter.com/eWnSMDKQ72
— Google Photos (@googlephotos) May 21, 2018
Despite offering a decent set of photo management tools the Google Photos still lacks on some fronts. For once I wish that Google introduces Family cloud space sharing option for the Photos. As of now, there is no way for me to share my Google Drive space with my family. That apart, the new features are expected to put the Google Photos at par with the Apple’s photo app. It would be interesting to watch out for the AI-powered features that Google had promised us at the Google I/O.