Google Photos gets a bunch of new features, including a locked folder

Google made a bunch of new announcements on the first day of its annual developer conference I/O 2021. The announcements also included additions of new features to Google’s popular photo service, Google Photos. Let’s take a look.

Locked Folder

Google has introduced a new security feature called Locked Folder. It is essentially a passcode-protected space where you can save your photos separately. It will hide these protected photos from appearing when scrolling through Google Photos or other apps.

Google Photos’ Locked Folder will be first available on Google Pixel. It will be available to more Android devices throughout the year. The company added that Pixel users would also have the option to save photos and videos directly to the protected folder from the camera app.

Memories

Memories is now an important feature of Google Photos. Apart from showing the pictures taken on a date in the past, it also features theme-based photos. Memories will now add three or more pictures that share things like shape or colour. It could be a set of, say, a collection of photos with your backpack. Google also said it would new types of Memories of the moments people celebrate, such as Diwali, Lunar New Year, and Hanukkah. These new features have already begun rolling out for Photos users.

Google is also giving users more control over the Memories section. Now, users will have the option to rename a highlight or remove it. Soon, you will have the ability to remove a single photo from a Memory. You will also be able to do so from Best of Month Memories.

Cinematic photos

Google has updated Cinematic photos, which uses Machine Learning technology to create 3D versions of your photos. The latest update now builds on this to turn still photos into realistic videos.

“When you’re trying to get the perfect photo, you usually take the same shot two or three times — trying to get all my kids smiling and looking at the camera at the same time is a challenge, to say the least. Using neural networks to synthesize the movement between two nearly identical photos and fill in the gaps with new frames, we can create vivid, moving images called Cinematic moments,” the company said in a blog post.

According to Google, Cinematic clips work with any identical images regardless they are captured from a phone or scanned version of an old photo album. Google pointed out that creating such a realistic animation would have taken developers hours, but machine learning technology makes it happen instantly.