Google Photos has come a long way since it was first introduced. While it used to be just for storing and sharing your photos and videos, it has morphed into an app that can do so much more, like curate memories, edit media, build thoughtful moments, and so much more. Over the past year, the app has become sleeker, gaining new much-needed and welcome additions.
And that work still continues, with Google doing quite a bit behind the scenes to make Photos the only app you think about when viewing, editing or creating with your photos. Although still in testing, 9to5Google reports that Shortcuts in the Google Photos app could be getting an overhaul, bringing some changes that users are either going to love or hate.
Is it better or worse?
According to the news outlet, Google is adding a new and more visually appealing design to the Shortcuts section, utilizing larger preview panes that will provide a thumbnail of an image found inside the folder. Each shortcut will have a title, making it ever clearer what types of images are inside the folder. For the most part, this sounds pretty exciting. However, there is one further change that could make it frustrating.
These Shortcuts will dynamically change depending on what’s added and removed. Not only does this apply to just image previews, but it also means the positions of the Shortcuts as well. While having the most used shortcut front and center is always going to be a good thing, it doesn’t make it any easier to access if this is constantly able to change depending on your use.
The Trash, Favorites, and Archive Shortcuts will still be part of the lineup despite these new changes. Again, this is something that’s just being tested at the moment, so if you don’t see it show up, you’re not alone. 9to5Google has seen this change on just one of its devices, which means this isn’t a full rollout just yet. If you’re running Google Photos on Android, you can always head into the Collections area to see if this new change is live for you.
Despite its popularity, you might have thoughts about jumping to a Google Photos alternative. There are quite a few options out there, and some that we would even recommend. Or if you want to have more control over your content, we’d recommend going the self-hosting route. Regardless of what you choose, they are all solid options to store your precious memories.
