I’ve been looking for a free text/photo-to-video tool for a while now. My requirements are simple: a reasonable output time, no subscription model, no ads galore, easy to use on a phone, and the tool needs to be from a generally reliable company.
I’ve found multiple apps that tick several of those boxes, but none tick all. Gemini’s Veo 3-powered tool comes the closest, but that, too, isn’t truly free unless you get a complimentary AI Pro subscription with your new phone purchase.
For me, and countless other users that might be looking for a lightweight AI video generator that’s reliable, truly free to use, works seamlessly on small-screen devices like smartphones, and doesn’t show ads every few seconds, there’s good news.
Before your mind goes there, no, Google isn’t making Veo 3 free-to-use, and neither is it launching a new free-to-use tool. Instead, it’s adding its proven predecessor, Veo 2, to Google Photos.
Google Photos is already home to most Android users’ media needs, so adding Veo 2 and its capabilities to it makes a lot of sense, though don’t get too excited just yet. The implementation comes with limittions.
Imagine that perfect selfie with friends from a few years ago suddenly coming to life with subtle movements, or a cherished photo of your parent as a child smiling back at you.
Unlike Gemini’s Veo 3, you won’t be able to go all out with prompts
According to the tech giant, users will be able to select a photo of their choice from their gallery and choose one of two prompts: ‘Subtle movements’ and ‘I’m feeling lucky.’ So no, you won’t be able to take a photo of your friend and turn it into a video of them stuffing a whole pizza slice in their mouth at once, and you definitely won’t be able to take a photo of your dog and make it look like it took ballet classes. You will, however, be able to add subtle movements like waving, and/or smiling to static images.
Google didn’t specify, though it did say that usage limits would apply. Similar to Veo 3 on Gemini, these will likely refresh every 24 hours. Borrowing another similarity, said videos will carry visible and invisible watermarks to highlight their AI origin. Photo-to-video generation within Google Photos is rolling out today to Android and iOS Google Photos users in the US.
Elsewhere, Google Photos now also highlights a new ‘Create’ tab, which essentially brings all of the app’s creative tools under one screen. Tools like Collages, highlight video, Photo-to-video, and more will show up on this screen, in addition to a new ‘Remix’ tool that lets you transform images in your gallery into different art styles, like anime, comics, sketches, and even 3D animations.
Android and iOS users in the US will begin gaining access to Remix starting today, with the dedicated Create tab to land later in August.
