- As well as making room for more Gemini, Google has been updating its photo and video sharing service
- One of the new features includes Google Photos integration in the Gemini app
- While one of the features is still a rumor, we hope that it will be rolled out soon
It’s a busy and certainly an interesting time for Google at the moment, and it’s not just because Gemini is slowly taking over. While the company is doubling down on Gemini’s integration across the board of its services, it’s taking the time to seriously upgrade other platforms under its broad umbrella – Google Photos being one of them.
Just as Google Messages has been testing some useful upgrades, the company hasn’t forgotten about its photo sharing and storage software, which has also received its fair share of updates and new features, big and small. Two of them are very recent rollouts for Google, and though the third is only a speculation as of now, we’re hoping to see it come to fruition in the near future.
Google Photos gets Gemini integration on Android
In October 2024, Google Photos rolled out ‘Ask Photos,’ an AI search tool powered by Gemini that allows you to use natural language questions to filter through your gallery in the Photos app. With this new integration, Android users will be able to connect it to Google Photos and find photos inside the Gemini app itself.
According to 9to5Google, there are two sides to this new integration, the first allowing you to find images and videos based on the following:
- Your saved faces and relationships in Google Photos
- The location / date a photo / video was taken on
- A description of what’s in a photo
- Conversation with the Gemini app
For example, you can use prompts such as ‘Find my photos of Alex’, ‘Show me recent selfies’, and ‘Show my photos from my most recent trip’. The second part allows you to ask about specific details in your photos and videos, such as ‘What are the top 10 things we saw on our last trip?’ – similar to the Ask Photos function in the Google Photos app.
Dark mode for Google Photos’ web version
Whether you use Google Photos or not, you probably use dark mode settings on other platforms – for me, it’s always turned on when I’m using YouTube or TikTok. For a while, dark mode was exclusive to the Google Photos mobile app, but just a few weeks ago, Google finally brought it to the web version.
It’s a small upgrade for Google Photos, but one that will be very popular with users for sure. You can activate dark mode for Google Photos on the web very easily:
- Head to photos.google.com in your web browser
- Click Settings, and then go into the Appearance section
- From there, you can select your choice from different options, including Light, Dark, or Use Device Default
Google Photos tipped for a big redesign
While this is still speculated, it could be a great design overhaul and one that could make managing your photo library a little smoother.
We first spotted this a few weeks back following a leak shared by Android Authority, which pointed to possible changes we could see in the future, one of which shows the ‘Today’ heading no longer having a checkmark next to it but with what looks like a filter icon instead. Additionally, the leak shows a floating search bar in place of the usual Photos Collections and Search tabs.
