3.0 cheers to Google

Google is all set to roll out its latest photo sharing feature in Google Photos 3.0

With a dedicated sharing tab button on the bottom, the Google Photos 3.0 app is aimed at making sharing a much easier social experience. The latest features on the app are ‘Shared Libraries’ and ‘Suggested Sharing’ which are AI-powered.

Google Photos 3.0’s features are mostly based on facial recognition, which means if Google realises that a user regularly shares photos of a specific person with a specific email address, the app will suggest and offer to send them any new pictures. Google says this feature recognises a meaningful moment like a summer BBQ or a wedding, selects the right shots and suggests who may want to see the photos.

The user can control the sharing by fixing a date to the sharing process, for example to give people access to a picture after a certain date. The person you share with can pick and choose what photos they want in their library. It also looks at the photos taken at a particular location before organising them in a readyto-share album by selecting the best shots. The user can edit the album if required, then share with the people the app suggests, remove suggestions or add others.

Apps like Flock had tried using location to tie different sets of photos together even when they lived on different people’s phones; other apps like Bundle and Cluster aimed to better organise photos into albums, hoping to solve problems with sharing photos. None of these were successful.

One of the best features about Google Photos 3.0 is that even if a user's friends or family do not use it, photos can be shared by sending them a link via text or email. Other features announced at Google I/O include Photo Books, which is already live in the US, and Google Lens, which is arriving later this year.

Google says this feature recognises a meaningful moment like a summer BBQ or a wedding, selects the right shots and suggests who may want to see the photos