Google Photos is getting yet another tasteful haptic feedback feature

There’s a good chance you missed the quiet inclusion of the latest haptic feedback feature in Google Photos. It showed up in version 6.47.0.553312880 (spotted by Android Police) of the app and is little more than a gentle buzz, letting the user know when they’ve either pinch/zoomed fully or zoomed back out completely. It’s a handy little touch that prompts you to know that you’ve reached a limit without having to blatantly say so.

This isn’t the first use of haptics by Google Photos, either, but if you haven’t considered it before, you may not even realize the thoughtful inclusion of it prior. A few years ago, Google added a small, haptic bump in photo libraries that help to indicate each month you pass as you scroll down through the years of images. This small, impactful inclusion makes moving through a vast library of photos and videos simpler without blaring that fact out to the user.

In a similar fashion, long-pressing a photo to begin multi-select gives you the same, subtle nudge that you engaged an action, and I had to go into the Google Photos app and play around for a minute to even remind myself where else haptics are used. It’s just that natural and out of the way when using the app.

Haptic feedback used right

The power of haptic feedback in general is in its subtlety. It brings an element of tangibility to digital, non-tangible things and it is so nice when added thoughtfully. With things like Google’s own camera app, I personally love the haptic feedback you get with subtle bumps to help you know when you’ve properly leveled the camera. Again, it doesn’t jump out and announce itself, but you immediately know when you have it right.

Part of that subtlety, however, means there’s no real setting to switch these features on or off. It’s just part of Google Photos at this point, and I think that’s a good thing. Sure, the first time you feel one of these haptic bumps, it may take you a bit by surprise, but it takes so little to orient yourself to why it is happening, and it makes the app experience better overall.

This new, small pinch/zoom feature is arriving for users right now, so if you aren’t seeing it on your device, just give it a bit. As a server-side roll out, it could show up at any point. And I know this is a small thing to point out, but I really like seeing these thoughtful features arrive in apps that are already fantastic. It helps to remind me that Google – though they do like to experiment a lot – has a few products that have true staying power and are only getting better one iteration at a time.