Even though it's not technically a 'travel' app, we use Google Photos daily on road trips and it makes us happy! Photos has been a game changer for us. The unlimited free cloud storage, editing tools, photo management, automatic uploading, and sharing capabilities are a winning combination and best of all, my mobile phone never runs out of storage space!
So let's talk about unlimited free cloud storage--yes you really can store as many photos as you want in the Google cloud, but here's the catch. Google saves your image as 'hight quality' which is 16 mp. In the free version we use, images larger than 16 mp would be compressed by Google. 16 mp is just fine for us because most 8 x 10 enlargements print just fine! Google Photos also saves video up to 1020p. The free version is a super solution for family and travel photos while professional photographers will want to explore inexpensive cloud storage solution for a monthly fee.
Hands down my favorite feature in Google Photos is called 'Shared Libraries' that allows sharing and uploading of all your photos to another person's account (Choose wisely because you can only select one person!). This might not sound like a big deal, but with two travelers with two phones, it was always a total PITA to get all of the photos from a trip in one place. With Tom's Google Photos account set to automatically share his library with me, I'm a happy camper!
As for photo editing, I'm low maintenance. I don't have patience to learn Photoshop, but I'm fussy enough to want to spend a few minutes to straighten, crop, and adjust my photos a bit, Google Photo editing tools are super user friendly with pre-set filters (think Instagram) and easy slider tools to adjust lighting and color. You can also crop and rotate photos.
Here's an example of crop in action. At Assateague National Seashore, we spotted a wild foal nursing with Mom but didn't want to get close enough to disturb them. The resulting photo of this charming pair was just a little too far away. After a few seconds with the Google Photos crop tool, the edited photo became a stand out memory from our vacation.
95% of the time Google Photo's editing tools work for our needs, but for that other 5% try the Snapseed link in Photos (app available in Apple or Android) for fancier and more create effects.
Photo management with Google is a breeze because you can search your images! Find places (like Nova Scotia), objects (like violins), or people through facial recognition. You can teach Google Photos the names of people by adding labels to photos. It's also simple to create albums and collages.
I'm always in awe of professional photographers with their amazing DSLRs with mile-long telephoto lenses and mad Photoshopping skills, but Google Photos has what I need to simply and quickly edit and organize our memories. It makes me happy to improve upon the results I get with my iPhone. So happy, that Tom and I will be sharing the basics of using Google Photos with our vancamper friends at Winnebago's Grand National Rally for a second year. If you haven't used it yet, you can get started here with this printable.
We'd love to hear about travel apps that make you happy. Share them in the comments below.
