Google Introduces Much-Needed AI-Powered Google Photos Changes

Google has announced a range of new AI-powered features that will radically improve the Google Photos experience for millions of users—especially those with more extensive photo libraries.

The new features focus on organizing and decluttering the gallery feed by automatically grouping similar photos together while separating other kinds of images, such as documents and screenshots, into dedicated albums. Together, they will dramatically reduce time spent scrolling through the gallery, making finding the photos you want much quicker.

Photo Stacks—The Big Tidy-up

The most significant feature upgrade, already partially leaked last week, is a new “Photo Stacks” function that will clean up your gallery by automatically combining similar photos taken around the same time into stacks that take up a single slot in your gallery.

Google uses AI to select the best image, or “top pick,” from each stack and places that at the top of the pile for you. Tapping on this image allows you to browse the rest of the photos in the stack and designate a different one as the top pick if you wish.

Importantly, no images are deleted in the process; they’re just tidied up and arranged in a way that takes up much less screen space. I’ve been crying out for this feature as trying to nail that perfect shot can often fill my gallery with several screens full of similar photos. Photo stacks eliminate this problem and make keeping track of my favorites easier. Google claims a third of most people’s galleries consists of similar shots.

You can read Google's full instructions here.

Screenshots and Documents

As recent leaks have emphasized, Google Photos has everyday uses beyond holiday snaps and family memories. Now, Google Photos is improving its support for other types of images, such as screenshots and photographed documents. These types of images will now be automatically sorted into new albums like “ID,” “receipts,” and “Event Information” based on their content, making them easier to find when needed.

Google Photos will also extract information such as dates and locations from tickets and flyers, allowing you to set a reminder in your calendar directly from a photo. Users can also have documents and screenshots automatically archived and removed from the gallery after 30 days. However, they won’t be deleted completely, as they’ll remain accessible from the new dedicated document albums.

A Much-Needed Upgrade To Google Photos

Combined, these new features bring some much-needed organization to the Google Photos gallery by replacing its unmanaged stream of every photo you’ve ever taken with a tidier, more compact view that presents you with only the images you’re most likely to want to look at. However, if you want to keep things as they are, all the features are optional and can be turned off.

Google Photos’ new decluttering features are starting to roll out now on Android and iOS and should be available to you soon. You can read full details on the official Google Photos blog.

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