Summary
- Google Photos is gearing up for new features like editable Memories and customizable filters to simplify library management.
- An app researcher found evidence of search filters and a new video editing feature called Spotlight in the latest beta version.
- Shared album commenting is also poised to improve with a floating comment bar, similar to WhatsApp, making commenting more interactive in Google Photos.
Google Photos has been adding features and testing new ones at a steady pace recently. We haven’t seen much in the way of new updates, but the development pipeline is chock-full of new features which would make Memories editable and customizable, while the video editor UI could also receive a redesign. Now, app researchers have found evidence of three new features in Photos which would simplify library management with filters, and video editing with a feature called Spotlight.
As one of Android’s staple gallery apps pre-installed by many OEMs, the Photos app is well-rounded, offering most of the basic features needed to manage, edit, sort, and reflect on your photos and videos. However, things have been heating up and Google app researcher AssembleDebug on X (formerly Twitter) at Android Authority is on top of the latest developments, as always. The update to beta version 6.94 of the app contains evidence of three upcoming features.
First, the researcher managed to enable search filters. Just like in a social media app or email client, the new filters named Most recent and Best match should make image lookup quicker. Most recent will place newer images matching your search keyword at the top, but the results might not be very accurate. However, switching to the Best match filter dramatically improves accuracy of the results, but doesn’t show the dates images were captured in the tight grid view.
If you use Google Photos tools for editing videos, especially for social media or quick sharing, you’ll know the tools aren’t as professionally optimized as in a purpose-built video editor. However, Photos can help pare down videos to short clips with the best bits of a longer recording. Code strings in the latest beta version outline a new Spotlight feature with presets, which could resemble Video Spotlight in the Memories tab of the app. However, additional details remain veiled in mystery, at least until we see this feature in action ahead of a launch.
This beta version also included flags to enable a floating comment bar when viewing shared albums. It reminds us of the Reply field in WhatsApp image previews and status updates, but within Google Photos. This floating bar could make commenting on albums fun, but like all other beta features, there’s no telling when any of these changes will come to a usable stable version of the app.