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On the eve of big storage shake-up, Google Photos is turning 6
Young enough to throw tantrums, old enough to know it shouldn't
It's been six years, to the day, since Google Photos debuted at I/O 2015. A lot has changed since for me; I got married, I moved countries, and more importantly, the world is very different than it was back then. What hasn't changed, though, is how awesome and reliable Photos has been through it all. It has improved a lot, made some controversial changes, but it remains the smartest photo library I have ever used.
How to get Google Photos integration in OnePlus Camera instead of the stock Gallery app
The solution is surprisingly simple
Anyone using a non-Pixel device like a OnePlus phone and Google Photos in conjunction probably knows that this can lead to some annoying issues. When you delete a photo in the camera right after taking it, it's possible that Google still uploads it, making you repeat the deletion process in Photos. The solution is simple on recent OnePlus phones: Just disable the pre-installed Gallery. The camera will then preview your shots right in Google Photos, and the app will respect deleted images right away.
Google Photos will no longer back up images from WhatsApp, Messages, Kik, and other messaging apps by default
You can re-enable it again at any time, though
Google is disabling the Google Photos app's image and video backup for folders created by services like WhatsApp, Messages, and Kik. In essence, that means that by default, photos and videos from those services saved on your phone won't be backed up by Google Photos going forward. The change appears to be temporary, and Google hopes it will make a dent in internet resource utilization during the ongoing pandemic. If you prefer, you can easily revert the change manually to re-enable those backups at any time.
After the Pixel 4's announcement, we were surprised to discover it didn't offer free original quality backups on Google Photos like its predecessors. The next day, a Redditor made things even worse for Pixel users by explaining that the new iPhones do get unlimited original quality backups on Photos because they use the HEIC format. We've reached out to Google and got confirmation that this is indeed the case, but it's a "bug" that'll be fixed.
Google's hardware event just wrapped up, and to nobody's surprise, its newest Pixel phones are pricey, starting at 9. That price is all the harder to swallow thanks to a new detail: the phones won't come with free original quality photo storage in Google Photos, a feature that's been a selling point of the hardware line since the very first Pixel phone.
It's becoming a bit of a tradition: Every year, when Google's new smartphones are announced, we have to confirm once again that the first-generation Pixel and XL will keep benefiting from their lifetime original quality photo backups for life. This year, Google made a little snafu, seemingly backtracking on that promise, but it's all been fixed now.
Read update
- Based on my own experience, some of the comments on this post, and threads on Google's support forum, this particular issue looks to have been fixed. Images and photos uploaded to Google Photos since ~October 17th should now be appearing, and a Google employee has posted to at least one of the threads on the support forums with confirmation that the issue should be resolved.
Google Photos is probably one of the most renowned products the company has ever made. But, right now some people are having a bit of trouble with it. For many, images uploaded to the service since October 17th aren't appearing on the Google Photos website, although the images are being backed up and can be accessed via Google Drive.
Anyone who's been hanging around Android Police knows that AirDroid is one of our very favorite tools. And a big part of what makes it so great is that the developers are constantly improving both the core file transfer functions and adding brand new stuff more or less constantly. The latest additional goodie is a photo backup system, more or less like the ones featured in Dropbox or Google Drive and their imitators, but minus the online cloud storage element.
Google Photos' decoupling from Google+ dates back to May, which means five months have now passed since. In this time, Google Photos has received several updates and gained essential features like Chromecast support and albums for adding and reordering images. Now the Photos team is ready to reflect on these five months and share with us a few stats about the app and service's use.