Google Photos gets a new video editor, unlocks Pixel features for One subscribers

Google Photos recently got an updated editor with powerful new features and a fresh design. Many Android users who were excited about it were hoping that a new built-in video editor would follow suit since it launched quite a bit before that for iOS. Now, Google is bringing this new video editor to Android after all, and it’s set to roll out over the next few weeks. There are also a slew of photo editing features which are exclusive to Pixel owners that will now be available only to Google One subscribers. Let’s break it down.

The new video editor allows you to trim, stabilize and rotate your videos, in addition to cropping them, changing their perspective, adding filters, and applying granular edits to brightness, contrast, saturation, and warmth. with over 30 specific controls, this update brings the editor up to modern standards for something built-in to a service.

Before, it was lacking quite a bit. Do remember that Google Photos’ editing tools were previously implemented as they acquired Picnik back in 2010. Picnik was focused on simplicity, which was fine for when Google Photos first rolled out, but now the company is upping its game and evolving that software quite a bit, and honestly, it’s about time.

Okay, let’s talk about these photo editing features. Remember that time when Google locked the color pop tool behind a One subscription if the phone it was being applied to didn’t have any depth information? Well, they’re doing that again, and no, I’m not kidding, but hear me out.

Portrait Blur, Portrait Light, and Color Pop are all now going to be available to Google One members with their subscription (See the Chrome Unboxed logo at the corner of each?). Because Google is saying goodbye to unlimited storage space, I’d wager that way more people are utilizing a Google One subscription than those that own Pixel phones. This means that these features will now be available to a wider audience, and it makes a payment structure make a bit more sense than it did before. This also means that these tools will be available to Chromebook users who are utilizing Google Photos via the Google Play app.

Google One members will have access to other new machine learning-powered effects, too. Think of these as super filters that apply complex edits with just one tap.

The Keyword

It’s my hope that the video editor and tools like Portrait Light come to the Google Photos web app in time, and perhaps one day as a system web app for Chromebooks. Historically, many of the app’s features have come to the web, and the web continues to get more capable seemingly by the day.