Skip to main content

Organizing your Google Photos library will soon get a lot easier

organizing your google photos library will soon get a lot easier september 2024
Bryan M. Wolfe / Digital Trends

As reported by Android Authority, the Google Photos app for Android is expected to receive an update with new organization features. These enhancements could make photo management a little bit easier. The new tools will benefit anyone who regularly backs up photos and videos from third-party apps to Google Photos.

The latest report reveals that an APK teardown of Google Photos v6.99 unveiled a new option within the app’s “Show content from other apps” section called “Only show backed-up content.” By choosing this option, you can view images from third-party apps backed up or waiting to be backed up. This gives you better control over what appears in your main photo feed.

Recommended Videos

You can also customize the setting per app. Better still, even more third-party apps are supported.

The Google Photos app will also soon be able to display the number of photos that are not backed up from each device folder. This feature will help you see how many items in the folder are not included in your backed-up images.

These app tweaks may not be significant, but they will be beneficial. There is no set time frame for the release of Google Photos v6.99, although it could arrive soon.

Google Photos often gets updates. Just one week ago, for example, we told you how searching your photo library is now easier thanks to some search improvements and Ask Photos with Gemini.

Google Photos - Clutter management changes

Currently only available to certain Google Photos users, Ask Photos takes the standard search experience in Google Photos to the next level by utilizing the latest Gemini models to analyze your photo gallery. With this information, Ask Photos can extract relevant details from your photos to help you locate specific memories and uncover insights about your life.

The other new feature available to everyone is an improvement to Google Photos’ classic search tool. Now, you can use everyday language to do searches. For example, you could search for “Andrew and I on a beach,” “swimming in a lake,” or “Sam smiling.”

Ask Photos will eventually be available to anyone with access to Google Gemini.

Bryan M. Wolfe
Former Mobile and A/V Freelancer
Bryan M. Wolfe has over a decade of experience as a technology writer. He writes about mobile.
Your Google News app is getting a subtle redesign. Here’s what’s changing
Google News on a Pixel 9 Pro.

Google continues to fine-tune its native apps on Android, this time with Google News. This follows the big redesign to Google Maps that happened earlier this year. So what’s new in Google News?

Basically, the newly redesigned Google News makes things simpler in terms of the bottom bar. Previously, there were four sections in that bottom navigation bar: For you, Headlines, Following, and Newsstand. The revamped version now combines For you and Headlines into a new Home tab, which acts as the default feed for content. The other two tabs -- Following and Newsstand -- still remain.

Read more
Google boosts Android security against unknown tracking devices
Unknown tracker alert for Android.

Google is adding a couple of new features to Android’s safety alert system that will help users find unknown trackers moving with them. The new features cover all tags and tracking devices that support Google’s Find My Device service for locating lost hardware.

The first one is Find Nearby. This one will help users locate any hidden tracker. For example, if your Android phone flashes an unknown tracker alert, you can check for its presence using the Play Sound feature.

Read more
Here’s how your Android phone could help stop your motion sickness
Someone holding the Google Pixel 9 with the screen on.

Motion sickness — also called kinetosis — is a common problem. In fact, as many as one in three people have felt sick while in a vehicle. For those who suffer from it, reading in the car is practically impossible.

Apple introduced a feature that helps those prone to motion sickness use their phones without the accompanying nausea. Now, Google is working on a similar feature for Android phones.

Read more