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Google Photos’ Locked Folder can now keep your sensitive images safe on iOS
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Google is expanding the reach of its Locked Folder tool on the Google Photos app so it will soon be available on iOS and web. This means that if you decide to switch from an Android device to an iPhone, you can still access your secure files without issue.

It doesn’t appear like there’s any major difference between the three versions. All three types of users can store their content in a Locked Folder then back it up so it can be accessed across multiple devices. According to Google in the official announcement that you’ll be saving your files on “one of the world’s most advanced security infrastructures.”

When it first launched, Locked Folder was exclusive to Google Photos on Android. It provided users a “passcode-protected space” for images or videos, ensuring that they won’t appear on your “photo grid or other apps.” 

The problem was the Locked Folders feature wasn't available outside of Android smartphones, as we just covered. So if an iPhone owner wanted to hide particularly sensitive media, they were out of luck. Those images could end up on other connected apps where they're displayed in full view. 

With this update, you can rest easy knowing that moving forward, any embarrassing snapshots of you at that Christmas party will remain hidden on your iPhone.

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In addition to the expansion, the company is also simplifying the settings page on Google Photos to make finding and adjusting privacy controls easier. The menu will no longer have everything messily displayed on a single screen. Instead, individual tabs will be compartmentalized into larger sections for a much cleaner look. The Privacy tab, for example, will have all of the sharing tools where you can decide which of your friends has access to your image folders.

Availability

Keep an eye out for the update patch when it arrives. Google states the new layout for the settings page is now available on Google Photos for Android and iOS. Also, Locked Folder support begins rolling out to iOS users today. 

It’s unknown when Locked Folder will make its way to Google Photos on web browsers. We didn’t see anything on our personal account. However, it is worth mentioning there are instructions for setting up Locked Folders for desktop via the official Google Photos Help website. This could mean the browser update will be launching soon – although we don’t know when. We reached out to Google for more information about when we can expect the final patch. This story will be updated at a later time.

If you’re looking for alternatives, be sure to check out TechRadar’s list of the best photo storage and sharing sites for 2023. 

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Windows 10 gets some love from Microsoft with updated Photos app
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Despite concentrating on its latest version of Windows, it seems Microsoft is still keen to bring new features to the ageing Windows 10, with a revamped Photos app apparently coming soon.

After bringing the Windows Backup app to Windows 10, after initially only offering it to Windows 11 users, there's been a further indication that Microsoft will continue making features and apps that were originally thought to be only for Windows 11 also available for Windows 10.

The next such app to join the Windows Backup app is the modernized Photos app, as reported by Neowin and X (formerly Twitter) user @techosausrex. The early preview version of the app is now supported in Windows 10, giving a pretty solid nod that it will be released in a future Windows 10 update.

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The new Photos app for Windows 10

It has also apparently been somewhat confirmed by Microsoft as the current version of the Windows 10 Photos app now states that “a new update for the Photos app is coming soon with exciting enhancements,” as evidenced by Neowin.

What users can expect in the new Photos app is a more sophisticated interface, improvements to photo library management, better integration with OneDrive, a refined “Memories” feature, a multi-window capability and multi-screen usability, and upgraded abilities to import from external sources.  Another anticipated development is that the built-in video editor will be swapped out for Microsoft’s web-based video editor, Clipchamp. 

How to install the new Photos app

If you’d like to try the new Photos app for Windows app before it’s available in a future update, you can do so by following these steps: 

First, you need to go to https://store.rg-adguard.net. 

This will allow you to generate a direct link for the new Photos app from the Microsoft store. 

Second, make sure the first drop-down menu shows “URL (link)” and paste this link into the long middle URL box: 

https://www.microsoft.com/store/productid/9WZDNCRFJBH4 

Third, in the smaller drop-down box next to the URL box, select “Fast” and click the checkmark button directly next to it. 

Then, you may have to scroll down a bit (if you can’t see the long list of available links) which should show up in a table. You want to find the link that looks exactly like this: 

Microsoft.Windows.Photos_2023.11080.4003.0_neutral_~_8wekyb3d8bbwe.msixbundle

Next, you have to right-click this link and from the menu that appears, select Save link as. Allow for your device to download the file. 

Finally, you’ll want to open the file you just downloaded and click Update. This will prompt Windows 10 to update the app and allow you to open it. 

Woman using free video editing software on laptop

(Image credit: Shutterstock)

Things for users to consider

It’s worth noting that the Windows 10 Photos updated app won’t work exactly like the Windows 11 version, at least for now. For instance, the Windows 11 Photos app allows for iCloud integration as the Windows 10 version doesn’t. Also, if you install the updated Photos app and find that you don’t like it as much as the older app, there’s an easy way to downgrade to the previous version. You can go to Settings in the Photos app and click the Get Photos Legacy button, and this should revert your Photos app.

I appreciate Microsoft’s approach to enable users to adjust their Windows experience to their liking, no matter what version they are using. If you like the older version of the operating system, you can get most apps and features in Windows 10 that you’d find in Windows 11. 

Microsoft’s continued support for Windows 10 by bringing new apps and features to the older operating system, despite the existence of Windows 11 (which the company clearly wants its users to upgrade to), is good to see, and hopefully will put pressure on other companies (especially Apple and Google) to continue to bring new features that are compatible with older operating systems.

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Google Photos now shows you an AI-powered highlights reel of your life
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The Google Photos app is getting a redesigned, AI-powered Memories feature to help you find your life's highlights among the clutter of your everyday snaps and videos.

The Memories carousel, which Google says is used by half a billion people every month, was introduced four years ago at the top of the Android and iOS app. It automatically picks out what it considers to be your most important photos and videos, but Google is now making it a more central part of the app. 

From today in the US (other regions in the “coming months”) the Memories feature is moving to the bottom of the app's navigation bar and getting some useful new tricks. One of these is the ability to “co-author” Memories albums with friends and family, in a similar way to shared albums. 

This feature sounds particularly handy for big events like weddings, as you'll be able to invite friends or family to collaborate on specific Memories and add their photos and videos to help fill in the gaps. You can also save any Memories that are shared with you to your Google Photos account.

Google is also promising to add a couple of other new features to Memories soon. If you're struggling to think of a title for your collection of snaps (which we can't imagine is a major issue) then you'll be able to use generative AI to come up with some suggested names like “a desert adventure”. This is apparently an experimental feature, and only currently available to “select accounts in the US”.

Perhaps more useful will be the option of sharing your Memories as videos, which means you'll be able to send them to friends and family who aren't on Google Photos in messaging apps like WhatsApp. Google says this is “coming soon”, but unfortunately hasn't yet given a rough timescale. Knowing Google, that could be anything from three months to three years, but we'll update this article when we hear something more specific.

Google upgrades the photo album

An Android phone on an orange background showing a photo of a kitten being shared in the Google Photos Memories feature

You can now share Memories albums with other Google Photos users in the updated version of the app (above). (Image credit: Google)

While these are only minor tweaks to the Google Photos app, they do show that Google increasingly sees its cloud photo service as a social app.

The ability to “co-author” Memories albums is something that'll no doubt be used by millions for events like weddings, vacations, pets, and celebrations. And as Google Photos isn't used by everyone, the incoming option to share Memories as videos to WhatsApp groups and other messaging apps should also prove popular.

On the other hand, these AI-powered photo albums have also sparked controversy with their sometimes insensitive surfacing of unwanted memories and photos. Google says that its updated Memories view lets you quickly add or remove specific photos or videos, or hide particular memories, to help with this.

On the whole, the Memories feature is certainly an upgrade to having to pass around a physical photo album, and its AI powers will no doubt improve rapidly if half a billion people continue to use it every month. If it works as well as it does in the demos, it could effectively be an automated highlights reel of your life.

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Google Takeout update could make transferring photos to iCloud a breeze
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Starting next year, Google will be making it easier to transfer your user information to third-party services using its Takeout export tool.

This update comes at the tail end of an investigation by the Italian Competition Authority (AGCM), a market competition regulator. In total, there will be three new changes made to Google’s service. Although we don’t know exactly what the changes will be, the AGCM does mention a few things. Two of them will be “supplementary solutions” to Google Takeout, giving people a way to export their information to “third-party operators.” The third “commitment”, as it’s referred to, will “allow direct data portability from service to service.” That last one specifically relates to moving data generated from a person’s Google Search history and YouTube.

To give some backstory, back in 2022 the AGCM alleged Google had been abusing its dominant position in the tech industry to collect “large amounts of [user] data” and putting up “obstacles to interoperability” in sharing information with third parties. One of the complaints said Takeout was “extremely complicated” to use – something they claim was by design as it “discourages [people] from porting their data elsewhere.” In response, Google proposed the three features that we mentioned earlier as changes it could make to appease regulators; all of which the Authority accepted.

Expanding data portability

Regarding the direct data portability feature, 9to5Google states it sounds a lot like the Data Transfer Initiative (formerly known as the Data Transfer Project). If you don’t know what that is, the Data Transfer Initiative consists of Apple, Meta, and Google coming together to expand data portability to users. The classic example, as given by 9to5Google, is imagine being able to transfer images from Google Photos to iCloud without having to manually do anything. The companies handle all the heavy lifting. This could preserve precious bandwidth while also being much faster than downloading gigabytes of content.

It’s unknown exactly when everything in the Google Takeout update will be released, but we won’t have to wait long for the direct data portability tool. The tech giant told the Authority the feature will officially launch sometime during “the first quarter of 2024.” However, we might see it even sooner as third-party platforms can test an early version of the tool “six months before its actual release.” Possibly by October, at the earliest.

If you don’t want to wait until next year for the Google Takeout upgrade, check out TechRadar’s list of the best data migration tools for 2023. 

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Are you backing up your photos? This survey says most of us aren’t
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Not enough of us are backing up our photos and videos – that’s the message from Mixbook following its survey on the photography habits of Americans. 

While there’s no shortage of photo cloud storage and cloud backup services, the popular online photo printing service revealed just 35% of surveyed respondents regularly backup the photos on their camera roll. 

The report also showed just how fleeting some photography is. Of those surveyed, 80% said they have pictures or videos on their phone that they haven't looked at since the day they took them. 

Gathering digital dust

We’re all taking more and more pictures and videos. High-resolution camera phones and a steady stream of photo editors and video editing apps have made it easier than ever before. Yet so much media is left gathering digital dust.  

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Mixbook calls it “phlushing”, which is probably the ugliest word to be written this week. It’s the act of taking photos, then flushing them down the memory hole like they didn’t happen. Moments captured in time, and never seen again. It all sounds suspiciously like the time before everyone had a camera in their pocket. 

The data revealed users stored an average 3,139 pictures and videos on their phones. But 55% of respondents admitted not looking at their camera roll in the last year. And despite the best cloud storage providers storing years’-worth of media, users said they rarely went back to those taken more than twelve months ago. The same number confessed to feeling overwhelmed by how many photos and videos were stored on their device. Perhaps a problem easier ignored – at least until the likes of Apple iCloud and Google One come knocking for a storage space subscription. 

What actually happens to all those photos and videos? In 50% of cases, nothing at all. A further 30% share them with family and friends, while 17% post to social media. In a sign of the times, just 3% print them, online or with a photo printer. 

But the real concern is that 65% who are not regularly securely storing media – especially with so many ways to backup photos – whether they’re “phlushing” those images or not.  

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Google Photos for web gets huge update, but is still missing one big feature
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The web version of Google Photos just got a major upgrade that brings a slew of editing features like Color Pop, Portrait Blur and Sky suggestions. But it’s not perfect. 

Google Photos has been a great cloud photo storage platform for some time, making it easy to share your snaps between devices, and on mobile it’s also a solid photo editor. It’s not on par with services like Photoshop, but you can pull off some great looking adjustments – we particularly like Color Pop which makes the image black and white except for objects you select, and Background Blur which artificially blurs the background of pictures.

While this update finally gives the web client these tools and others found on the version on your Google Pixel 7, there are unfortunately two catches to the new and improved Google Photos web version.

Firstly, you’ll need to be subscribed to Google One – Google’s paid subscription service – to be able to take advantage of these new features. The cheapest Google One tier is Basic; it costs $ 1.99 / £1.59 / AU$ 2.49 per month and gives you access to these Photos tools as well as 100GB of storage, the use of the Google One VPN and a handful of extra benefits.

The other catch is the new Google Photos web tools lack the best feature found on the Google Pixel version of the app: Magic Eraser. This AI-powered tool allows you to clean up your photos; the app removes the objects you’ve highlighted and then cleverly fills in the blank space with a background using context from the image. It’s not perfect, but nine times out of 10 you wouldn’t know the image was altered unless someone told you.

Opinion: Magic Eraser is like a photo cheat code

A phone screen showing a photo of a child on a beach being edited by Google's Magic Eraser feature

(Image credit: Google)

Magic Eraser isn’t a Google Photos editing tool you should always rely on. Our Cameras Editor Timothy Coleman recently argued that cleaning your messy photos with Magic Eraser is a bad thing. It removes authenticity from your snaps, and often options like Background Blur can create a much tidier looking image.

But there are plenty of times when a minor fix from Magic Eraser can help remove a distraction that blemishes a shot you love. When I took a holiday with my parents in December 2021, I snapped a picture of them next to a huge Christmas tree, but they’d left their brightly colored bags in the shot. Thanks to Magic Eraser I could clean up the offending items, and get a result we were much happier with.

Given my success with the tool, I’m disappointed to see it’s not coming to Google’s Photos web app yet. This is hardly a surprise though; Magic Eraser is one of the best features on Pixel phones and by making it available to any Google One subscriber, Pixel handsets would lose one of their unique appeals. 

Hopefully this Pixel exclusivity won’t last forever. But even if it does, with a bevvy of AI image tools on the rise alongside the best AI art generators, you might find a Google Photos rival can offer a good alternative to Magic Eraser.

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Windows 11 gets ability to view phone photos… just as Apple cans a similar feature for Macs
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Windows 11 has just got a new preview version in the Dev channel which adds some smart features, principally the ability to view your phone photos right on the desktop.

As you may recall, a big project in testing right now for Windows 11 is the revamp of File Explorer, part of which is the addition of a photo gallery feature. What Microsoft has done here is to introduce a new button that lets users add their phone photos to the gallery.

Click the ‘Add Phone Photos’ button and you’ll be given a QR code to scan with your smartphone, then you can set up the device to pipe photos across and view those mobile snaps in Windows 11’s photo gallery.

There’s other work on File Explorer elsewhere in preview build 23471, including some bug fixes, and another feature introduction – the ability to pop tabs out of windows (or merge them back), as you can with a web browser.

Note that the latter feature is an incremental rollout, so not every Windows Insider will see it yet. Microsoft did announce, though, that every tester in the Dev channel will now have the photo gallery in File Explorer (which has been a phased rollout, too, but one that’s now finished).

For the full details of all the fixes and tinkering in preview build 23471, as ever you can immerse yourself in Microsoft’s lengthy blog post.

Analysis: Microsoft adds while Apple takes away

The further work on File Explorer is welcome, and particularly the functionality allowing you to view phone photos right there on the Windows 11 desktop with a minimum of hassle.

There’s some interesting timing here – though no doubt coincidental – as well, in that as Microsoft is introducing this new feature, Apple has just announced that its My Photo Stream offering is being shuttered. (It’s now effectively on the chopping block, and will be shut down at the end of July).

Now, that might be an old service, and one not used much anymore, but it’ll still be something of a blow when it finally shuts it doors for the diehard set of niche Mac owners who still use My Photo Stream to view their phone photos on the desktop.

Of course, as Apple points out, My Photo Stream has been long been superseded by ‌iCloud Photos‌, and you should turn that on instead. But some folks haven’t set up iCloud Photos‌ because they don’t want to (enjoying just seeing recent snaps automatically on their Mac, courtesy of Photo Stream, without having to sync an entire – possibly huge – photo library to iCloud).

There’s also the fact that ‌iCloud Photos‌ requires payment (beyond the 5GB that you get free, a rather measly allowance these days), and some aren’t happy about that, either – and the apparent financial motive for Apple to make this move.

At any rate, whatever your view of how redundant or pointless My Photo Stream is at this point – indeed, you may never even have heard of it – the fact remains that Apple is taking away one path for easily viewing your phone photos on the desktop (that at least some folks still use), while Microsoft is going in the opposite direction and adding one.

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Apple shuts My Photo Stream on July 26, so make sure you don’t lose your photos
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Apple has announced that it's shutting down its older My Photo Stream service on July 26, and encouraging everyone to move over to iCloud Photos. If you still use My Photo Stream, your files will remain available in the cloud for 30 days from July 26.

My Photo Stream was the forerunner to iCloud Photos. It was free to use but only covered a maximum of 1,000 pictures and video clips, keeping these files in sync across every Apple device you owned and on the web.

Apple hasn't given a reason for shutting down the service, but iCloud Photos is clearly the newer and more comprehensive option for photo and video backups – while also making some money for Apple in terms of storage fees at the same time.

“Moving forward”

“Moving forward, iCloud Photos is the best way to keep the photos and videos you take up to date across all your devices and safely stored in iCloud,” Apple said in an email sent out to anyone who is still making use of My Photo Stream.

While photos and videos won't be deleted from your actual devices, they will be removed from the cloud 30 days from July 26 (so August 25), and syncing will be switched off. No new uploads will be permitted from July 26.

The service launched alongside iCloud in 2011 and is something of a throwback to the time when tech companies were still figuring out how to get photo and video uploads to work in a speedy and seamless way.

Analysis: what you need to do

What Apple is doing here is phasing out the cloud storage and syncing service for your last 1,000 photos and videos. The original files – which in most cases will be on an iPhone, if they were captured with the iPhone camera – won't go anywhere.

Unless you want to risk losing all your precious memories if something happens to your phone, you really need to get your pictures and videos uploaded to the cloud for safekeeping. Apple is pushing its own iCloud Photos service, which works well: once you go past 5GB of files though, you'll need to start paying for storage.

Other similar services that offer paid-for cloud storage include Google Photos and Dropbox. If you don't want to pay or store anything in the cloud, you need to make sure your photos and videos are regularly backed up to a computer or storage drive or two, preferably in a different location to where your iPhone normally lives.

There's more information in the official Apple support document about how the My Photo Stream shutdown is going to work, what you need to do with your photos and videos, and how to get them into iCloud Photos if you want to.

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You can finally get unlimited Google Photos storage but there’s a catch
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A new Google One membership is on the way, offering users unlimited Google Photos cloud storage – however it’s only available to T-Mobile customers in the US, and it’ll cost $ 15 per month. 

Google Photos delivers one of the best photo cloud storage services – ideal for users who upload a lot of high-res images. T-Mobile’s latest Google One membership plan, which the mobile network provider says is launching soon, will also give users 2TB of cloud storage across Gmail and Google Drive. This matches the current top-tier Google One subscription package offered to all Google account holders.

What makes the mobile brand’s announcement unique is that not even Google is giving away unlimited Photos storage for high-quality uploads. 

The One membership

It wasn’t that long ago that Google Photos used to offer unlimited high-quality uploads – a promise it had kept since its unveiling in 2015. 

However back in June 2021, the company started limiting basic users to just 15GB free cloud storage across Google Photos, Drive, and Gmail. 

In a move that mirrors Apple’s own iCloud expanded storage subscription options, media-heavy users looking to expand or upgrade their cloud storage options must join the Google One subscription service. 

Google One is billed as ‘one membership to get more out of Google’. The packages, which are available on a Basic, Standard, and Premium subscription tier, includes perks like expanded Google Drive cloud storage and a VPN for Android and iOS – all of which can be shared with up to five family and friends.  

Finding the right Google One plan

The newest option builds on T-Mobile’s two existing Google One packages: $ 5 a month nets customers 500GB of storage, while a monthly fee of $ 10 delivers 2TB of cloud storage without unlimited Google Photos. 

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> Google Photos vs iCloud: which cloud photo storage giant is best for you?

> Google Photos backup: how to back up your snaps to and from Google's photo service

> How to download all your Google Photos to your PC or Mac

However, if it makes you feel better, note that T-Mobile’s unlimited photo and video storage plan is only available to the main account holder. 

T-Mobile’s unlimited Google Photos plan will be available from April 26 2022. 

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Google is launching a more secure place for your photos
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Keeping the photos and videos stored on your Android smartphone away from prying eyes is about to get a whole lot easier as the new Locked Folder feature in Google Photos is now rolling out to even more devices.

Google's own Pixel phones were the first devices to get access to this feature and now almost six months later, it's finally becoming available to smartphones from other device manufacturers including Samsung, OPPO and OnePlus.

While Google Photos acts as a cloud storage service for your photos, it's worth noting that pictures moved to a Locked Folder will no longer be backed up to the cloud and will only be available on your smartphone. At the same time, if you uninstall Google Photos or clear its app data, all of the items inside your Locked Folder will also be deleted.

For this reason, you should back up these photos online using one of the best photo cloud storage services for safekeeping before getting started with Google Photos' Locked Folder feature.

Hiding sensitive photos and videos

According to a support document from Google, to configure the Locked Folder feature in Google Photos, you'll first need to open the app and go to Library > Utilities > Locked Folder.

From here, just follow the on-screen instructions to unlock your device though if you don't have a screen lock set up for your smartphone, you'll need to do that first before using Locked Folder. Once the Locked Folder feature is ready, you can select the photos and videos you want to secure, tap on the three dot menu and select Move to Locked Folder to hide these items from the main Google Photos library.

If you own one of Google's Pixel phones, you can save photos directly from Pixel camera to Locked Folder to have them hidden automatically.

Up until now, Android users had to rely on third-party apps to hide photos and videos stored on their devices but with Locked Folder now rolling out to non-Pixel phones, you'll be able to secure all of your photos and videos directly in Google Photos.

We've also rounded up the best cloud storage, best photo cloud storage and best cloud backup services

Via Android Central

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