After five years as the dominant solution for photo storage across platforms, Google Photos is getting a big new redesign. The refreshed look, which includes fresh ways to navigate the app and a simplified pinwheel icon, is designed to better highlight your favorite old pictures, Google said.
It also answers the top feature request Google says it’s received: a map view that lets you explore the photos and videos that you’ve taken by location.
The simpler three-tab interface and a map view. The icon has also been reworked and these changes were first described on June 25 in a blog post. Now, the updated Google Photos app is live with a server-side switch and brings several changes that Google says offer a more “simplified experience”. The updated interface adds three tabs on the bottom named ‘Photos’, ‘Search’, and ‘Library.
“A lot of people really love the product, and the reason they love it is a little bit different than what we initially designed it for,” said David Lieb, product lead for Google Photos. “The thing they really love it for is this idea of nostalgia, and reminiscing, and looking back on your photos. So in this redesign, we decided to really lean into that. We think in the long run, that is the unique, durable value of Google Photos.”
The Search tab lets you search for people, places, and “things most important to you”. The Google Photos Library tab is where all your folders, albums, favorites, archive, and trash can be seen.
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The map view in the Search tab shows sort of a heat map of where in the world you have taken pictures. These can be browsed by tapping on the heat zone which then shows all the photos taken in that particular location.
