HIGHLIGHTS

Machine learning is used in Google Photos' Cinematic Memories.

Users will not be able to choose a picture to apply the effects on manually.

A People & Pets widget was also just introduced by Google Photos.

WHY IN NEWS

Google Photos Cinematic Memories will now fill in any details that are lacking in the backdrop. The Google gallery app will automatically choose an image from the current photographs and apply the effect using machine learning (ML). Users are unable to manually choose an image from their gallery to fill in the gaps in the missing background information. A new People & Pets widget for Android handsets has also been launched by Google Photos. Furthermore, the memories carousel has been moved to the top of the photo grid in Google's gallery app.

According to a post on Google's Keyword blog, the Cinematic images feature in Google Photos will be updated shortly. The update will include a new function that will use machine learning to fill in missing background elements from photographs. As previously said, the Cinematic pictures feature is a component of the Memories feature and was revealed in December 2020. The new Cinematic pictures function will automatically take an image from the gallery — usually a portrait — and convert it to a 3D film with a slow panning effect added to the subject. There appears to be no option for users to choose a picture manually to apply this effect. To minimise blurriness in 3D videos caused by areas behind the subject that were not captured, Google Photos will use machine learning to fill in these background elements. It's possible it'll operate similarly to the Magic Eraser feature on the Google Pixel 6 series.

The People & Pets widgets for Android handsets are another feature that Google Photos just unveiled. Users will be able to choose friends, family, and pets to display on the home screen widget. The Photos app will launch when you tap the widget. Google's Experiences collection was also just unveiled, and it allows users to view old memories and occurrences. Memories show in the Photos grid, where they may be renamed, personalised, edited, or deleted. The Memories carousel, as Google refers to it, will appear at the top of the app's photo grid. In the Nest Hub, users can also access their memories by going to the Your day page.

The Google Photos Locked Folder was previously only available on Google Pixel handsets.

The Locked Folder function was first released by Google Photos in May, but it was only available on Google Pixel handsets. It now appears to be making its way to more Android handsets, as Google promised a while back. Google said in October that this capability would be available to more Android users in the future. The Google Photos Locked Folder feature has begun to roll out to more people, however it is currently only available on select handsets.

As previously reported, the Locked Folder functionality for Google Photos was announced during the Google I/O event in May. The function was only available for Pixel phones at the time. However, the capability is now available on a growing number of Android handsets. This functionality was discovered initially by Android Police.  on the other hand, was able to independently verify this capability on a Motorola Edge 20 Fusion and a OnePlus 7, both of which were running Android. Since no formal notification has been made regarding the deployment, it is assumed that the upgrade will be implemented gradually. In the following days or weeks, all Android smartphones should receive the update. The iOS version of Google Photos' Locked Folder has yet to be released, and it may not appear until early next year.

Users may save photographs and videos individually in a password-protected folder with the Locked Folder function. Once the media has been saved in the Locked Folder, it will no longer appear in Google Photos or any other Gallery app on the user's smartphone.