Google Photos

Google is shutting down Picasa desktop app and Picasa Web Albums to focus on Photos

Christian Zibreg ∙ February 12, 2016

Google on Friday announced that the Picasa desktop app and its corresponding online photo-sharing service, called Picasa Web Albums, are soon going to be officially dead. This didn't come as a shock: since the launch of Google Photos, Picasa's fate was pretty much sealed.

As of March 15, 2016, Google will no longer be supporting the desktop Picasa application for Mac and Windows. After the cut-off date, existing Picasa installations will still work.

However, Google has said it will cease development of the app so there will be no future updates nor will the Picasa app continue to be available for download after March 15.

The best ways to store your iPhone photos in the cloud

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated November 16, 2024

Those high-quality snaps and videos you take on your iPhone, iPod touch or iPad can pretty quickly eat up all of the available storage space on your device.

There are a number of techniques to increase your free storage, like deleting apps you no longer use, emptying system caches and so forth, but they all pale in comparison to the simplest of solutions—actually moving storage-hungry photos and videos off your device to safely store them in the cloud.

In this post, we'll tell you all you need to know about the most popular cloud storage solutions. We're going to detail backing up your media to each of them and discuss recommended strategies for freeing up as much storage space as possible without destroying your personal memories or changing your workflow much.

Google Photos launches shared albums

Christian Zibreg ∙ December 10, 2015

As promised back in September, Google Photos has now begun rolling out shared albums on the web and in its mobile apps for iOS and Android.

Arriving just in time for the holiday season, a shared album allows friends and family to add photos to it. Those who have joined a shared album will receive a notification about any changes and newly uploaded photos.

If it sounds similar to Apple's own iCloud Photo Sharing, that's because it is, with one crucial difference: shared albums on Google Photos aren’t designed for a social world—you can't like, comment on or caption them.

New space-saving features coming soon to Google Photos for iOS

Christian Zibreg ∙ November 17, 2015

If your iPhone is constantly running out of free storage space—and your Camera roll is packed to the gills—you'll be delighted to know that Google is rolling out new space-saving features to the Google Photos app.

Google Photos for iOS will soon bring out a brand new “Free up space” option in settings and will keep track of your phone’s storage space for you and tell you when backed up photos should be removed from your device.

Google Photos gains people labeling and animation sharing to WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger

Christian Zibreg ∙ October 2, 2015

As promised, the Internet giant Google today pushed an update to its Photos for iPhone and iPad app in the App Store. Bumped to version 1.4, the software has gained some of the features Google promised to enable before the end of this year. For starters, you can now label people in photos and merge face groups so they're easier to search.

Chromecast support, people labeling and shared albums coming to Google Photos

Christian Zibreg ∙ September 29, 2015

In addition to a pair of new Nexus smartphones and an upcoming $14.99 Google Play Music family tier, the search giant dedicated a few minutes of stage time at its media even this morning to the mobile Photos app, which launched on iOS and Android in May 2015.

An upcoming update to Google Photos, the company said, will add a few missing features to the software, like people labelling, Chromecasting, album collaboration and more.

Google Photos for iOS gains photo reordering, selective backup, better sharing and more

Christian Zibreg ∙ September 3, 2015

Less than two weeks following a refresh that brought out a Timehop-like feature for rediscovering your photos from the past, Google Photos for the iPhone and iPad on Thursday received another noteworthy update.

The new Google Photos 1.3 for iOS introduces four distinct improvements to your photo-management workflow, like the ability to reorder photos in your library and another one letting you selectively back up individual photos and videos.

Google Photos gains Timehop-like blasts from the past, new sharing options and more

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated October 14, 2018

Google's standalone Photos application for the iPhone and iPad today received an update in the App Store, bringing a few new sharing options and other enhancements to your on the go photo-management experience.

Google Photos 1.2 for iOS, a free download in the App Store, will also show you photos and videos from the past so you can take a brief walk down memory lane, a new feature provided in the form of cards in the Assistant view.

How to move pictures from the Mac Photos app to Google Photos

Ankur Thakur ∙ Updated March 22, 2022

This complete guide shows you how to upload photos and videos stored inside your Mac's Photos app (your entire macOS Photo Library) or a Finder folder to Google Photos. We show you both automatic and manual methods.

Poll: how does Google Photos compare to Apple’s Photos app + iCloud Photo Library combo?

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated October 14, 2018

Among a flurry of yesterday's announcements at the Google I/O developer conference, the Internet giant launched Google Photos, its brand spanking new photography service available across iOS, Android and on the web. It offers unlimited storage (with a few caveats) and has many other compelling features that give Apple's iCloud Photo Library a fairly good run for its money.

To name but a few: world-class facial recognition that understands aging, sleek design, fast performance, unmatched search and machine intelligence, the ability to create a movie, collage or animated GIF in seconds and more.

The question is, will you be turning to Google Photos as a backup solution for the media you've amassed on your iOS device? Or, perhaps you'll be sticking with Apple's iCloud Photo Library even though it offers a meager five gigabytes of free cloud storage? Planning on using Google Photos alongside iCloud Photo Library, are we? Not a big fan of either service, you say?

Tell us in today's poll!

The fine print of Google Photos and why you shouldn’t ditch iCloud Photo Library just yet

Christian Zibreg ∙ May 28, 2015

I jumped with joy after reading Cody's coverage of Google Photos. I mean, who wouldn't want a sleek photo service across iOS, Android and the web that came with truly unlimited storage, right?

Here's an iCloud Photo Library user who's been paying Apple happily 99 cents month-to-month for the privilege of using a meager twenty gigabytes of iCloud storage.

But I have a confession to make: I need way more storage for all my photos and am reluctant to fork out five bucks a month in exchange for just 200 gigs of iCloud storage.

Having said that, before you ditch Apple's iCloud Photo Library solution for Google Photos, here are a few facts Google didn't emphasize enough that you should consider.

Google announces new ‘Photos’ cloud service with free unlimited storage

Cody Lee ∙ Updated April 18, 2018

Google hosted its annual developer conference this morning where it talked about Android M, Android Pay and other initiatives. It also announced a new cloud-based storage service for your photos and videos called Google Photos, and it's available on iOS today.

At first, Google Photos sounds a lot like iCloud Photo Library and other storage services: automatic back ups, integration with compatible apps, quick editing and sharing tools, and the ability to sort by various metrics. But there a few features that set Photos apart.