What you need to know
- A dive into the latest Google Photos version shows the company is preparing a new “Hide clutter” option, which involves GIFs, screenshots, and memes.
- Photos is also preparing to revamp its “Library” tab by calling it “Collections,” alongside some subtle UI changes.
- Google recently rolled out “Photo Stacks” in January, another decluttering function, and is preparing a way for users to regain Cloud storage space.
A dive into the latest version of Google Photos shows the company’s plans to help keep our galleries clean and a new tab.
As spotted by AssembleDebug and PunikaWeb, version 6.79.0.624 of Photos shows that Google is working on a “Hide clutter” option for the main gallery view. A string states the function will keep “backed-up” screenshots, GIFs, and memes hidden.
For now, the code shows that the feature will be tucked away inside the “Personalize your grid” function when tapping the three-dot menu in the Photos tab.
Additional digging shows that your hidden screenshots and GIFs are still accessible via their respective albums in Google Photos. The function’s goal is to remove them (if desired) from the app’s main gallery view if things become too cluttered.
Another discovery was made concerning the app’s “Memories” tab UI. AssembleDebug noticed that Google is looking to change how collages are shown. Rather than display them as crinkle-cut snapshots, Photos will display Memories cards with rounded corners, similar to widgets on Android.
Memories is also gaining a new setting that lets users disable the ability for Photos to generate AI titles automatically. The toggle for “Help me title” will apparently be tossed into the app’s Settings > Preferences > AI features by Labs.
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Elsewhere, 9to5Google conducted an APK deep dive, which surfaced the company’s upcoming revamp of the “Library” tab in Photos. The redesign will swap the old Library name for “Collections” instead. Most of the tab’s contents seem to remain the same. The code shows minimal work done to reduce the amount of space the top row of shortcuts takes up.
A user’s available albums follow suit below as folders with previews for “People,” “on this device,” “Albums,” and more. The publication adds that Photos will soon display how much of a folder’s contents have been backed up or if the feature is disabled in the Collections tab.
It’s unclear when Google plans to roll out these small updates for Photos at this time.
The recently discovered clutter-reducing option for stored GIFs and the like will likely aid the app’s “Photo Stacks” feature. The company rolled out the feature in January, which places visually similar photos taken around a similar time together in a single stack. Users can then hop into a stack to see which version they want to keep and discard what they don’t.
A more recent find shows that Google Photos is preparing a feature to help users reclaim some storage space for their Cloud data.
