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Locked Folder in Google Photos is starting to arrive for more Android users
Another option for where to store your private goods
Encrypted local storage. Your device's file manager and/or gallery can make it happen. Google's own Files app, too. And Google Photos — you know, the app you use to back everything up onto the internet — introduced its own Locked Folder back in May, just for Pixels. While we sort of wished that we could have partitioned cloud storage of our sensitive things, we're now seeing this feature spread to non-Google phones as well.
Google brings us up to speed with what's new-new (and kinda-new) for Android
The teased Android TV remote, some Gboard improvements, and a few Pixel-exclusive features are coming to your phone
Today, Google has announced the rollout of a whole pile of "new" features for Android and Android Auto — 16 changes, by Google's count. Of course, this is Google, so "new" in many of these cases means they've been spotted in testing for months, and you may have been using many of them already. The tweaks cover a wide range, including accessibility improvements and Android Auto (which we'll cover separately to help streamline things just a little bit), but highlights include a new remote control for Android TV built right into your phone, an Assistant reminders hub, several time-saving Gboard improvements, and the trickle-down of a few Pixel-exclusive features.
June's Pixel Feature Drop is here, and there's more new stuff than we expected
Video astrophotography (astrovideography?), Locked Folders for Google Photos, Heads Up for Digital Wellbeing, and market/language expansions for existing features, plus lots more
It's June, and that means a few things: Nice weather, Pride Month, gardening, donut day, and the latest Pixel Feature Drop update. This month we're getting several new features: previously leaked long-exposure Night Sight videos for animated astrophotography, the debut of the Locked Folder feature for Google Photos, a new Heads Up feature for Digital Wellbeing that leaked last year to help pedestrians, Assistant-based voice controls for answering or rejecting calls, a new Gboard feature to pull details like phone numbers or URLs from bigger chunks of text in your clipboard, and an expansion of car crash detection. Recorder and Call Screen are also coming to more markets and languages, plus a set of new Pride-themed ringtones and backgrounds.
Google Photos Locked Folder might not be as useful as we thought it would be
Images are only saved locally for the sake of security
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Google Photos might cost you money going forward, but Google is working hard on making it an enticing service nonetheless, with Google One editing perks and automatic creations that you can't find on other platforms. Now the company has introduced another stand-out feature: a Locked Folder. As more details about it are emerging, we've also learned about a potential dealbreaker for some — the Locked Folder is purely local on your phone, with no cloud backups available.