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Your Google Photos app may soon get a big overhaul. Here’s what it looks like

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The Google Photos app running on a Google Pixel 8 Pro.
Joe Maring / Digital Trends

Google Photos is set to get a long-overdue overhaul that will bring new and improved sharing and notification features to the app. With its automatic backups, easy sorting and search, and album sharing, Google Photos has always been one of the better photo apps, and now it’s set to get a whole slew of AI features.

According to an APK teardown done by Android Authority and the leaker AssembleDebug, Google is now set to double down on improving sharing features. Google Photos will get a new social-focused sharing page in version 6.85.0.637477501 for Android devices.

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The new “Sharing Activity” page will act as a social notification feed and make it easier to handle likes and other social interactions with your photos. It looks similar to Instagram and Facebook, showing likes and comments for your albums.

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It’ll also alert you when someone adds photos to your album and notify you when you get added to a group by someone, as well as who added you. The Shared Links page shouldn’t change, and you should still be able to access it by tapping the hamburger menu in the top right, letting you create links for shared albums.

A Sharing Activity page could come to Google Photos (AssembleDebug)

Another feature is the new storage meter, which I personally find more interesting as someone who constantly struggles with Google Photo storage limits. The new storage meter is basically a UI revamp of the Storage manager. It has an appealing new visual design that makes it easier to see where you can reclaim space.

When you pick something from the “Review and delete” section, the meter will appear at the bottom and show you how much storage you can save by deleting all items. As you continue to remove items individually, the meter will gradually fill up.

This latest APK teardown from Android Authority follows an earlier one at the beginning of the year, which revealed that Google Photos will get a new “My Week” feature, letting you send your best memories to friends and family every week. It’s also expected to support likes, showing that Google is keen on turning Photos into more of a social platform than a pure photo backup and management app.

But, just because a feature is revealed in an APK teardown doesn’t guarantee that it’s coming to a Google Photos update. It just means that Google is testing out these features and might roll it out if everything goes well.

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Ajay Kumar
Ajay Kumar
Freelance Writer, Mobile
Ajay has worked in tech journalism for more than a decade as a reporter, analyst, and editor.
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