Google finally freed Google Photos. The service has long wanted to be the ultimate photo-management app, but it’s been trapped—by Google+. No longer: Now, Google Photos is available for Android, iOS, and via the Web, and you won’t have to hide your images inside that long-dormant G+ account.
Though Google Photos is a brand-new product, it stills shares its DNA with Google+’s photo services. Your photos remain private unless you want to post or share them. Google+ is still one entry point option—if you select “Photos” on your Google+ profile, you get your Google Photos collection—but you can manage your pics from the standalone apps and at photos.google.com. In other words, there’s no Google+ tie-in needed.
While the emancipation of Google Photos is great news, the app has a few tradeoffs. For starters, you need to be OK with storing all your photos in the cloud to get the most of it. But the new photo service’s organizational powers, search capabilities, and sync/backup features add up to an essential download.The first benefit of the service is freeing up storage on your phone. As long as you’re cool with a maximum resolution of 16 megapixels and/or 1080p video, Google Photos provides free, unlimited cloud backup for everything you shoot. For higher-resolution shots and 4K early adopters, there are also options. You get a free 15GB of Google Drive storage, but then the price ramps up to $1.99 per month for 100GB and $9.99 per month for
1TB.
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