Google Photos for iOS Adds Live Photos, iPad Pro Support

[MacRumors]

Google has released an update to its Google Photos iOS app that adds support for Live Photos, the camera feature available to iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus owners that captures sound and motion just before and after the moment a still photo is shot.

The official support means users can now store, view and organize Live Photos separately from their device's Camera Roll inside Google's app. Once uploaded to a Google Photos account, Live Photos are assigned a Live Photo icon and can be brought to life within the iOS app using a pressure-sensitive 3D Touch gesture.

The update also brings added support for the Split View multitasking feature native to iOS 9, allowing photos in the app to be perused alongside other apps on iPad mini 4, iPad Air 2 and iPad Pro devices.

In addition, Google Photos now supports the native 2732x2048 resolution of the iPad Pro, where previously the app would scale up on the device's 12.9-inch screen.

Elsewhere, navigation in the app has been improved so that users spend less time flipping "hamburger" menus, while cache usage has been reduced on devices that are running low on space.

Google Photos is a free download on the App Store for iPad and iPhone. [Direct Link]

Article Link: Google Photos for iOS Adds Live Photos, iPad Pro Support

 

[jonnysods]

It's a credit to Google that they added this. Live Photos does make Apple look superior over Android imo (in one way)

 

[H2SO4]

Won’t be long before someone pipes up with, ‘OOooohh Google are evil. It’s not enough that they have your photos - now they have short videos of you to better track your habits’.

For me personally Live Photos is useless, but I can, understand how others could have a use for it.

 

[Keane16]

Live Photos have been awesome capturing younger members of the family. Nice to have support in Google Photos.

Good to see the iPad specific extras too.

 

[gotluck]

Nice! Glad to see this. Live photos have been my 'unexpected favorite feature" on the 6s for pics of my young son too.

Believe this is the first third party app with cloud backup support?

 

[Mums]

Google Photos is actually pretty good, and the iOS app is great - you can search and find things even when the photos are not titled - like "dog", "flower", etc.

 

[bigcstyle4]

This is great that it's finally supported but it's only for this point going forward. Too bad it can't go back and compare what it's already backed up to see if should be replaced with the Live Photo version still stored on the phone.

Edit: never mind, after another full sync they're all showing up

 

[ajspear]

This is great that it's finally supported but it's only for this point going forward. Too bad it can't go back and compare what it's already backed up to see if should be replaced with the Live Photo version still stored on the phone.

It looked like the app did that for me. I initially thought the same thing.

 

[numlock]

only thing i dont like about google photos is that the recent section on google drive gets filled with the photos and not on the day the picture was taken but the day it was uploaded so you could have dozens or hundreds there.

 

[bigcstyle4]

It looked like the app did that for me. I initially thought the same thing.

You're right! Looks like after some time passed it actually did do this. Maybe another backup was happening in the background.

 

[MichaelMidnight]

I wonder... If Live Photos are on my phone, I'd imagine they'd get re-uploaded as Live Photos but I'm wondering about Photos already IN Google Photos. Wonder if I need to re-upload past photos. Also, any know if we can just filter to see what Live Photos we have?

 

[Sajal]

Photos already IN Google Photos. Wonder if I need to re-upload past photos.

No you don't need to Google will update the old photo,
https://twitter.com/googlephotos/status/706976502521401346

Also, any know if we can just filter to see what Live Photos we have?

O I would love this feature too.. Please ask them via the in app send feedback in google photos ios app. I have already done so



Somehow, support of live photos by Google seems kinda way out for the Live Photos being available only on the device (Will save us from Lost or stolen or intentional deletion)
[doublepost=1457534004][/doublepost]Here's a test I just did:

1. Backup a live photo into google photos
2. Delete the device copy
3. Redownload the live photo from google photos to device
4. Checked the ios photos app and it works just like the original live photos.

I would have loved to invest in iCloud rather than Google Photos, but I haven't found any way to selectively upload photos to icloud, do tell me if there's a way

 

[d00d]

Believe this is the first third party app with cloud backup support?

Depends on what you mean by this. Options for photo backups to the cloud include: Flickr, Amazon Photo, and Shoebox. I'm using all of them right now, just to see how they work. I'll probably drop Shoebox, but the rest are good for various reasons (Flickr because of all the photo sharing options/community, Amazon Photos because it's free with Prime and unlimited storage with no image mangling, and Google for collage/animation features as well as for shared albums with people that don't have an iDevice).

 

[gotluck]

Depends on what you mean by this. Options for photo backups to the cloud include: Flickr, Amazon Photo, and Shoebox. I'm using all of them right now, just to see how they work. I'll probably drop Shoebox, but the rest are good for various reasons (Flickr because of all the photo sharing options/community, Amazon Photos because it's free with Prime and unlimited storage with no image mangling, and Google for collage/animation features as well as for shared albums with people that don't have an iDevice).

woops, I meant the first third party backup app that supports backing up live photos

 

[Sajal]

woops, I meant the first third party backup app that supports backing up live photos

Yes