6 Google Photos Features You Should Try Now

Over the past eight years, Google Photos has expanded to include more features, such as photo sharing, after initially launching in 2015 as an online photo and video storage platform. However, you’re not using Google Photos to its full potential if you’re only using it to store and share photos. 

Check out these five Google Photos features you should try now.

Look for words in images

Assume you get a new device and need to enter your Wi-Fi password. You photographed the password months, if not years ago. Instead of searching through your photos for the password, you can use Google Photos to search for “Wi-Fi” or any other phrase.

Google Photos recognizes words in your photos using optical character recognition. Simply enter the phrase into the search function, and Google Photos will find photos that contain that phrase.

Make your next purchase based on a photo

You might want to shop around when buying big items like a couch or dining room table to make sure you’re getting the best deal. You can use Google Lens to search for comparable products using your Google photos to make sure you aren’t being duped. 

Additionally, you can use Google Lens to translate and read signs for you, as well as to identify and buy other items like food, plants, and clothing. Here is how to use Google Lens in the mobile app.

1. Open Google Photos on your phone or tablet.
2. Tap the photo you want to use Google Lens on.
3. Tap the Google Lens icon near the bottom of the screen—the icon has three rounded corners and a dot in place of the fourth corner.
4. Google Lens will generate a new menu across the bottom of your screen with options like Translate, Search and Shopping. Tap the one you want to access.

Although it only transcribes and translates text in images, Google Lens is available in the desktop version of Google Photos. Here’s how to use it.

1. Go to Google Photos and sign into your account.
2. Click the photo you want to use Google Lens on.
3. Near the top of the photo, you should see a bubble with the Google Lens icon and text that reads “Copy text from image” The text in the image will appear next to your photo in a separate menu.

Hide specific people and dates from Memories

Memories display old pictures and movies with content based on specific occasions, locations, and things with specific people in them. However, you can hide these images using Google thanks to its facial recognition technology. That can come in handy if you and your significant other decide to part ways and you no longer want to see their stupid face. 

Here’s how to hide certain people and places on your mobile device.

1. Open the Google Photos app.
2. Tap your profile in the top right corner.
3. Tap Google Photo settings.
4. Tap Memories.

From here, you can select Hide people & pets or Hide dates. When you select people & pets, the faces of the people and animals in your photos are displayed, and you can choose how many of them to hide. You are prompted to enter two dates—a start date and an end date—and any pictures taken between those dates won’t show up in your memories. 

You can do this on a desktop device, too.

1. Go to Google Photos and sign into your account.
2. Click Settings. 
3. Click the arrow next to Memories. 

You’ll see the same Hide people & pets and Hide dates options, which function the same way as the app versions.

Remove Memories in Google Photos

Google Photos’ “Memories” feature brings back old photos and videos. However, not all memories are pleasant, and you may not wish to be reminded of certain events. Fortunately, Google allows you to delete specific memories. 

Here’s how to hide the memories you don’t wish to see:

1. Opening one of the Memories at the top of Google Photos on your Android, iPhone, or iPad device.
2. Tap the three-dot menu icon in the bottom corner on the memory you’d like to remove.
3. Select “Hide” from the menu.
4. Now simply tap “Remove This Memory”
5. Finally, confirm you want to “Remove” the memory.

Removed images will never appear in your Memories again, and you won’t be able to re-add them. You do not need to be concerned about seeing the memory again. 

RELATED: Google Photos: Automatically Share Photos With Loved Ones This Holiday Season

Make a scrapbook or canvas print

You don’t have to go through a third-party shop or website to make a scrapbook or print your photos on canvas with Google Photos. You can combine all of these and purchase them in Google Photos via Print Shop. 

You can access the Print Shop in both the mobile and desktop versions of Google Photos, which are represented by a shopping bag icon in the top left corner of your screen. You can then make a canvas print, a scrapbook, or picture prints of your photos. Google Photos also displays the item’s starting price. You can have your items delivered to your home or have them delivered to a local participating store for you to pick up.

Editing the sky

It is not possible to have blue skies and sunshine every day. If you have Google One, you may be able to make it appear that way in your photos. There are many editing options in Google Photos, and one of them, called Sky, allows you to change the way the sky looks. Even though the feature won’t make a nighttime photo appear to have been taken at noon, it can make a nighttime photo appear to have been taken at dusk.