Latest news with #GooglePhotos
Android Authority
3 hours ago
- Android Authority
Google Photos could soon get a surprising third-party integration (APK teardown)
Edgar Cervantes / Android Authority TL;DR Google Photos is testing a CapCut button to help users edit Memories in the ByteDance-owned app. We spotted and were able to surface the button while conducting an APK teardown of the Google Photos Android app. The button only appears for Memories made up of photos and does not show up for a video-only memory. In a rather surprising move, Google seems to be quietly testing a new third-party integration in its Photos app, the likes of which we've never seen before. It's extremely rare for Google to promote a third-party app within its own app, especially one owned by a company under scrutiny in several regions, including the US, but that's exactly what may be happening. Authority Insights story on Android Authority. Discover You're reading anstory on Android Authority. Discover Authority Insights for more exclusive reports, app teardowns, leaks, and in-depth tech coverage you won't find anywhere else. An APK teardown helps predict features that may arrive on a service in the future based on work-in-progress code. However, it is possible that such predicted features may not make it to a public release. While digging through the code of version 7.38 of the Google Photos app, we spotted and managed to surface a new 'Edit in CapCut' button directly linked to the popular video editing tool owned by ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok. The new 'Edit in CapCut' button appears within the Memories viewer of Google Photos, a feature that auto-generates highlight reels of your past photos and videos. The screenshots below show the new, full-screen Memories UI in Google Photos, a change we first observed back in February. But now, for memories made up of photos, the 'Edit in CapCut' option shows up prominently in the bottom left corner of the screen. If the memory is a video spotlight (a video-only memory), the CapCut option doesn't appear. For users who don't have CapCut installed, tapping the button triggers a Play Store prompt to install the app. If you have CapCut already on your device, the selected memory will likely be downloaded and sent directly to the CapCut editor for further customization. We couldn't get CapCut to open up after pressing the button since the app isn't available in India, where our contributor Assemble Debug discovered the integration. This makes us wonder why Google would promote a non-Google, ByteDance-owned app in Photos? CapCut is banned in countries like India, meaning this feature will likely be inaccessible or broken for users in the region. The app was also temporarily suspended in the United States, but came back online earlier this year. Perhaps ByteDance has offered incentives to Google to push CapCut through one of its most widely used apps. Given that the feature hasn't rolled out widely or even appeared in the app's beta version, it's possible that Google is just testing the waters or planning a limited regional launch. Got a tip? Talk to us! Email our staff at Email our staff at news@ . You can stay anonymous or get credit for the info, it's your choice.
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Business Standard
4 hours ago
- Business Standard
Switching to Android: How to move iCloud photos, videos to Google Photos
Apple's iCloud and Google Photos both offer cloud backup for your media, but work in different ecosystems. iCloud syncs photos across Apple devices with 5GB of free storage, while Google offers 15GB distributed across its platforms, including Photos, and includes smart organisation and sharing tools across Google apps. Since they do not sync directly, moving content between them takes a few extra steps. Apple and Google offer official tools and methods to help make this transfer smoother. Before getting started, make sure your iCloud library is up to date, you are signed into the right Google account, and your devices are fully charged and connected to a stable Wi-Fi network. In this step-by-step guide, we will understand how to move your photos and videos from Apple's iCloud to Google Photos. Pre-requisites of transferring from iCloud to Google Photos According to the Apple and Google support page, Apple allows users to request a copy of their iCloud data (photos and videos only) linked to their Apple ID to be transferred to another service, such as Google Photos. This feature is available in over 240 countries worldwide. It is important to note that transferring your iCloud content does not delete or modify the original files stored with Apple; instead, it simply creates a copy in the destination service. The transfer process typically takes between three and seven days, during which Apple verifies the request to ensure it was made by the account owner before completing the transfer. This is to be noted that the service is not available for child accounts or Managed Apple Accounts. Additionally, users with Advanced Data Protection for iCloud enabled will not be able to export their photo or video data from iCloud until the feature is turned off. You are using iCloud to store your photos and videos with Apple. Your Apple ID has two-factor authentication enabled. You have an active Google account to use Google Photos. Your Google account has enough storage available to complete the transfer. If you add or change content before or during the transfer, it may not be included. These content types can not be transferred from iCloud to Google Photos: Shared albums Smart albums Photo stream content The video portion of Live photos Photos and videos not stored in iCloud How to request to transfer your iCloud Photos content Sign in to Apple's Data and Privacy page: Visit and log in with your Apple ID. Select 'Transfer a copy of your data' Once signed in, choose the option to transfer a copy of your data. Follow the on-screen prompts: Apple will guide you through a few steps to confirm your selection. This includes choosing the destination service (currently only Google Photos is supported) and verifying what type of content you want to transfer: photos, videos, or both. Sign in to your Google account: To authorise the transfer, you will need to log in to your Google account. Receive email confirmation of your request: Once your request is submitted, Apple will send a confirmation email to your registered Apple ID email address. Get notified when the transfer is complete: When the transfer is successfully finished, Apple will send a second email letting you know that your photos and videos have been copied to Google Photos. Cancelling the transfer If you decide to cancel the transfer while it is in progress, the process will stop but any photos or videos already transferred will not be removed from your Google Photos account. You will have to manually delete them if needed.
Android Authority
12 hours ago
- Android Authority
Google Photos starts rolling out the new look for its video player
Joe Maring / Android Authority TL;DR Google has started rolling out a new update to its Photos app, which includes a new video player UI. Additionally, the company has changed up its setup UI for new Photos users. These updates are part of Google's gradual rollout of its Material 3 Expressive redesign. Google has started rolling out some of its visual changes to the Photos app, which include a new video player progress bar with larger controls. While we spotted a few of the upcoming changes in an APK teardown back in June, users can now get access to the new UI by updating their Google Photos app to the latest version. The rollout was initially tipped by users in the Gapps Leaks Telegram group and we've since confirmed it by updating the app on our own devices. The video player now has a larger progress bar, along with a vertical indicator for easy navigation through the timeline. The volume button now sits above the progress bar. Rather than using the pause button in the center of the screen, there's a new pause button above the progress bar. Old player New player Fast forward indicator But instead of holding down on the left or right side of the video to adjust video playback speed and fast forward and rewind, the updated player allows you to double tap on the left or right of the video to skip ahead or rewind by five seconds. With additional taps, you can skip ahead or rewind further, with five seconds added per tap. Google has also tweaked the onboarding screen, making the user's profile picture and name more prominent. While this aligns with Google's Material Expressive 3 redesign, it lacks the useful mobile data toggle that we found nifty in our April onboarding UI teardown. Old New While there's something to be said for incremental changes, we're hoping that Google will continue to make more substantive updates to the app. I personally find the ability to share Google Photos albums with a QR code quite nice. Google is currently working on a bunch of redesigned elements for other apps which embrace the Material 3 Expressive design language. These include updates to Gmail, Phone, Meet, and plenty more. Got a tip? Talk to us! Email our staff at Email our staff at news@ . You can stay anonymous or get credit for the info, it's your choice.
Irish Examiner
3 days ago
- Irish Examiner
Caitríona Redmond: What to do if you lose your mobile phone
I used to carry my handbag like armour, packed full of everything that I would need. Thanks to the advent of the mobile phone, I now carry a wallet, personal portable computer, a photo album, video archive, address book, and much more. However, this convenience comes with risks. Gone are the days where I would pile my mobile phone, my purse, and all my personal bits and bobs into my handbag before leaving the house. I rejoice in the freedom of walking out the door carrying just my phone, safe in the knowledge that everything I need is in my hand. But what happens if this essential device is lost or stolen? Many of us have become reliant on that small oblong brick — so reliant in fact that we may not be able to carry on our day-to-day lives without one. The thought of losing my phone puts me into a cold sweat. For most, the loss of photographs and videos would be the most difficult to bear. Here are some steps you can take to protect your personal information and what to do if you lose your phone. Beloved family albums used to be stored on a bookcase in the living room. Those family albums are now stored on our phones instead. Our precious memories may have been digitised for eternity, but they are just as vulnerable as the albums on the bookshelf. It's crucial to perform regular backups to prevent their loss. Start protecting your digital albums by backing them up or downloading the data direct to a standalone computer. Cost-wise, downloading your information directly to your computer is free. However, you will need to continue to back up the phone at regular intervals, and make sure you keep your computer up to date. Learn from my mistakes: I have a wonderful hard drive full of family memories that is not compatible with more modern computers, rendering it nearly useless. Alternatively, consider using cloud services for automatic backups. The more modern the phone, the larger the photograph and video size, and consequently the cost of backup. Most mobile phone operating systems offer varying levels of protection and backup, with charges applying once you go over a storage limit. Depending on the online service you choose, be it Google Photos or iCloud, costs will start at €1.99 per month paid via the App Store. A small price, you will agree, for protecting your memories from loss or theft. Ensure you choose a reliable and secure service for your backups. Protect all the data on your phone by using strong passwords Strong passwords use a combination of letters numbers and special characters; they're particularly difficult to break; Whatever you do, don't use sequential numbers or letters. You'd be surprised at the number of people whose phone password is simply '0000' or '123456'. Use unique passwords for every single login and app; Alternatively use biometric security settings on your phone. This simply means enabling face ID or a thumbprint to open your phone or certain apps; Regularly change your passwords to enhance security. Make sure the mobile phone's operating system and apps are kept regularly updated. You can set these to automatically apply overnight in your settings. These updates are designed to circumvent cyber hacks or breaches and keep your mobile phone more secure. Enabling automatic updates ensures you don't miss any critical security patches. What should you do if you lose your mobile phone? Straight away activate the Find My Device services by logging in online. If it's an iPhone, you will need to use 'Find My iPhone'; or for an Android phone use 'Find My Device'. This service will help you locate your phone on a map, remotely access it, or erase its data. If you believe that your mobile phone has been stolen, then report it straight away both to your operator and the gardaí. If you have a work phone, you'll also need to notify your employer. Acting quickly can help prevent unauthorised access to your personal information. It may be tedious, but you will also have to change all your passwords. Think about every single app that you use and log into, from emails to Instagram, and beyond; everything needs changing. Once you get a replacement mobile phone, be wary and monitor your accounts for any suspicious activity. Regular monitoring can help you catch any unauthorised access early. Protect your phone from physical theft by always being mindful of your surroundings. Thieves often target distracted individuals in crowded spaces. Avoid leaving your phone in easy-access spots like a jeans back pocket and instead carry it inside of a zipped pocket or bag. Enable lock screen security with a passcode or facial recognition and keep a record of all your phone details including SIM card number and the phone registration number. Finally, be wary of public plug-in charging stations which can be used to steal data. Hopefully these tips will help and you will never lose your phone! Redmond Recommends If your phone battery is prone to running out by midday then a portable rechargable power bank is an excellent solution. Choose the largest bank that you can afford. A 10,000mAh bank should replenish your phone's battery to full twice before needing recharging itself and cost less than €25. A sturdy phone cover is a must, even with the most modern phones, if you want to protect from broken screens. I also recommend not testing how waterproof or resistant your phone is, no matter what the manufacturer says! When taking your phone into water use an airtight sealed pouch.
Android Authority
7 days ago
- Android Authority
How I use Synology and Google Photos to build the perfect photo backup system
Andy Walker / Android Authority Google Photos is the go-to photo backup app for quite literally everyone. It's fast, reliable, and everyone has a Gmail account, so it's the most accessible app out there for backing up your family memories. It's got tons of smart features and uses AI like no other photos app, from its almost magical AI editing to something as simple as natural language searches. It just works. However, a lot of things have weakened the case for Google Photos. For instance, I have to deal with media compression to save space — otherwise, I'd be hitting storage caps if I were to upload everything in full quality. Or worse, I'd have to keep upgrading my subscription and pay Google more every few months just to preserve my media in original quality. My current plan wouldn't even last a couple of months, and 2TB isn't worth the fee for me, despite the perks. I'd rather get my own storage for the same price — and I don't mean an external hard drive that awkwardly dangles from my computer. Would you consider moving away from Google Photos? 0 votes Nope, never ditching Google Photos NaN % Maybe, if I find a nice alternative NaN % I already use a hybrid setup like Synology + Google Photos NaN % I invested in a Synology NAS a few years ago. While it has streamlined my digital life but my most prized setup remains Synology Photos. It has changed how my family and I back up our media and turned it into a unique system. I'll tell you how I pieced it together and why it's perhaps the go-to strategy for a lot of home users who own a NAS. For once, I don't mind a clone Dhruv Bhutani / Android Authority We all know how good Google Photos is. It's the benchmark in smart media management that all other apps should look up to. Besides its AI perks, it's also the easiest tool to create cross-platform shared albums. I have numerous of them with my family and friends, all of which I treasure. So, it was out of the question that I'd ditch the app entirely, no matter the platform I'm on. I want all the convenience, but I wanted something that didn't cap me in any way. When I first got my trusty Synology DS920+, I played around with a lot of its built-in features. What stood out were Synology Drive and Photos — almost exact replicas of Google's apps, as if Synology was trying to make things familiar for people switching over — if their names weren't already a dead giveaway. Synology Photos has quite a lot of similarities with Google Photos, from the general layout to facial tagging for easy searches. You can create albums, share media with your family, cast them to your TV, add widgets that auto-rotate your photos, and whatnot. And the best part — you're not limited by cloud storage capping. Sky's the limit (or the remaining hard drive space). I'll admit Synology Photos isn't the most intuitive app by far, so it's not something I'd want to use every day. It feels more like a 'tool' you pull out when needed — which is why I needed a middle ground. Why pick one when you can go hybrid? Rita El Khoury / Android Authority I didn't want to give up Google Photos and was tempted by the freedom Synology offered. So, I did what any sane person would do — I included both in my setup. And they now work beautifully together. Google Photos remains my primary app to access media on my phone. It's fast, easy, and always accessible. Most importantly, I'm not missing out on the thousand AI features Google keeps adding. Whenever I need to look up an old photo, I fire up Google Photos like it's muscle memory — even on iPhone. It's my default for quick photo editing and album sharing too. Synology Photos is my bottomless pit where I dump all my high-res photos in bloated formats while all my 4K videos stay crisp. Meanwhile, Synology Photos also gets the same copies of my media — but in full quality. It's my bottomless pit where I dump all my high-res photos in bloated formats while all my 4K videos stay crisp. All our phones and devices back up to the NAS with zero worries about running out of space, poor internet, or compressing files. My NAS is my safe space for all our family media. Things happen to our devices and the cloud all the time. Even if I hit the limit with Google Photos, lose my phone, or accidentally delete something from Google, I know a full-res copy still exists on local storage. They live on a server I control, and won't be subjected to random cloud policy changes I must reluctantly agree to. My only hiccup Rita El Khoury / Android Authority But there is one downside to this otherwise flawless system. Indian summers don't let me run the NAS all day — it'd fry the drives if I did. In the little window that it works every day, there are times when Synology Photos misses backing up some media. And if it goes on for a few days, I end up with a backlog of unsaved photos. It's made worse by the fact that I don't open the Synology Photos app on my phone that often, putting it in deep sleep, I have to wake it from every few days — or weeks — depending on my memory. That's the only hiccup in this otherwise fully automated setup. How the twins play together nicely Dhruv Bhutani / Android Authority This setup is the reason I can get by with the basic Google One plan with 100GB shared across my family. Since our photos go up only in storage saver mode, we're all well below that limit. And the full-res versions? They're safe on the NAS. It actually aligns with the expert-recommended strategy of keeping an off-site backup for extra safety. And this dual strategy works really well for anyone tired of ballooning Google One bills, but who can't stop taking a zillion photos and videos on vacations. And honestly, you shouldn't either — capturing memories over everything else, always! This dual strategy actually aligns with the expert-recommended strategy of keeping an off-site backup for extra safety. If you're a first-time NAS user or on a tight budget, any brand would work in case you want something to just set and forget, though Synology Photos remains more intuitive among NAS offerings (not a high bar). Even 8TB is more than enough for regular home use and storing 'unlimited' photos, while Google handles all the smarts in a low-storage version of your library. That double backup is far more trustworthy and gives extra peace of mind. And given how moth-eaten and torn my old, physical photo albums are, I wouldn't take any chances with my memories.
