Google Photos is clearly the best photo management application on smartphones (Android and iPhone) and we have already explained how to use the powerful and unique unlimited photo backup function with Google Photos, which secures the shots taken with the phone in order to never lose them again. In addition to backups, however, Google Photos is also a formidable creator of special images and videos, which are automatically generated by the virtual assistant or which can be created manually using the numerous and ever richer editing tools .
The guide to the Google Photos functions refers to both the Android smartphone application and the iPhone one, as well as to the web version of the Photos.google.com site.
READ ALSO: Google Photos Cheats and special options for images and videos on smartphones and PCs
1) Use the assistant to create albums, animations, movies, collages and more
The Google Photos auto attendant, available from an application-specific tab, activates and works on its own when the backup and sync option is enabled in the application settings.
The photos saved on the Google cloud can then be processed by artificial intelligence which is capable of automatically recognizing the photos and videos for a specific moment or event in order to organize them in one of its creations.
For example, when taking many close-up photos, the assistant may create an animation or a collage, while if the photos are about a stay outside or a trip, they will automatically be organized into an album or a movie with music .
To find automatic Google Photos creations, simply tap the assistant button at the bottom of the screen (or on the left side of the website).
Scrolling down you will see the automatic compositions, which can be saved in your gallery or rejected and deleted by pressing on the X in the right side of the preview box.
At the top, in the assistant tab, there are the buttons to perform the Google Photos creations manually, choosing us the photos to use and the mounting options.
The creation keys are exactly 4:
- Album : to create a collection of specific photos for an event or a holiday
- Movie : to make a video of photos in slideshow with music and with a graphic theme
- Animation : to create a short animated image with photos taken in rapid sequence
- Collage : to create a single image with many photos on it.
In the American version of Google Photos there is also an option to create a photo book, which can also be printed and ordered.
If you open the Google Photos Settings menu, you can choose which tabs of the assistant to display and then hide Creations, Rediscover this day (the assistant shows photos of one or more years before the same day), Rediscover your memories ( the assistant shows photos from a previous period), Suggested rotations (for photos taken upside down), Suggested archives (usually for document photos)
2) See lists of photographs and different types of sorts
The photos in the Google Photos main view are always sorted chronologically, with the most recent at the top and then the possibility of scrolling down to find the older ones.
It is possible to swipe your finger on the right side of the screen to be able to scroll more quickly.
There are no other ways to sort photos, but in the Albums tab you can find photos automatically organized and create new groupings by pressing the button at the top right.
By pressing the options button at the top right, you can switch to a monthly view which is different from the default view which is daily.
3) The search for photos
While you might complain about the lack of other ways to sort photos, you can still use the search box which is really powerful and super smart.
This search box allows you to search for photos based on the theme, for example photos at the seaside, photos with dogs, photos on the snow and even photos where a certain person appears.
To search for faces, you must first activate face recognition in Google Photos.
4) Share albums and pictures with family and friends
If you want to send a specific photo or album or a group of photos, you can use the sharing function of the application which works very well. Instead of sending the various images through other applications such as Whatsapp, you can share them with Google Photos to be faster, especially with family members.
For example, if you want to keep photos taken of your children shared, you can create a shared album, using the specific option that appears from the options menu (button with three dots at the top right on Android).
We wrote a guide on this feature in another article to explain how to share photos in Google Photos automatically with another person .
Alternatively, you can select a photo (by pressing on it and holding it down), then touch the others and when finished touch the share button, selecting the contact or contacts to which you want to send. If the recipients of the photos use Google Photos, they will receive a notification directly on the application. You can also use the button to create a sharing link, so that you can send a link to be sent via email or via Whatsapp, which only displays the selected images.
From the Shared tab, by pressing the button at the bottom right, you can see all the shares activated, disable the sharing of some photos or create new shares by pressing the button at the top right.
5) Optimize photos, crop them or edit them with the Google Photos editor
Google Photos has a powerful editor built into the application that can be used to make quick edits to photos to fix them a bit and improve them. There are two versions of the photo editor in Google Photos, both accessible from a photo's viewing screen. When you open a full screen image, you can press the adjustment button below to open a reduced version of the editor with filters, light, color and pop effect adjustment tools and the rotation tool.
NOTE: On Huawei and Honor smartphones you can press the button with three dots at the top right to enter open the photo on the View and edit application and find more tools: Rotate, crop, filters, Splash to change colors in the photo, Illusion for create a kind of bokeh effect with a focused point and the rest blurred, brightness, contrast, saturation, sharpness, lights, shadows, black and white filter shades, beauty and mosaic filters.
6) Photo archive
If you notice a lot of confusion in the general list of photos to hide some images, you can open the menu on the left and press on Archive. From Archive mode, press the button to add photos and select those to be archived to move them to this special section of the application and make them disappear from the general list.
7) Free up space
As already explained in another article, you can use the option Free space on Google Photos, both on iPhone and Android, to automatically delete from the phone memory the photos and videos already saved in the online backup.
