Google Photos on iOS Gets New Features with Google One

While the original Photos app by Apple is more than decent, and iCloud is the easiest option to expand your iPhone space, many iPhone/iPad users keep their Google One subscription. It makes sense to keep a photo collection from various devices in one place. And now, Google Photos for iOS becomes an even more powerful tool for editing photos.

Google Photos is well known for AI-based effects and filters that improve pictures automatically or semi-automatically. It often offered the effect considered the most relevant to the scene, and the user only had to confirm the change. Now it has more editing options, available under Google One subscription.

For example, there is Portrait Light. A similar feature has been long available in the original iPhone/iPad camera. Now, though, you will be able to apply these effects to the already existing pictures. The effect allows you to adjust the position and the brightness of the light source. 

Another effect that will become popular is Blur. Even if your photo was neither made in portrait mode nor with an iPhone, you can blur the background afterward. A similar effect is Color Focus, which desaturates the background while the objects in the focus remain colored. There is also an HDR filter that enhances brightness and contrast, as well as a special effect for the sky in the pictures.

It’s one of these rare situations when iOS users have to wait for new features while those on Android already enjoy them. Could it be the other way around with Google? Alas, it does not apply to free Google accounts. It takes at least the cheapest Google One subscription for these new features to take effect.

Will this update by itself drive new subscribers to One? Let’s see. Will you subscribe? Or have you already done it? What do you think about having these effects in Google Photos? Let’s discuss it in the comments.