Google Photos gets Cinematic improvements, new event memories with nest Hub integration

Just in time for Christmas and the New Year, Google Photos is getting some updates that will make it easier to enjoy your photos in new and exciting ways. First, you may already be enjoying the new Photos memories widget on your phone, and this immediately gives your device that beautiful “picture in your wallet” moment each time you click your screen on and see your home screen. However, a new People & Pets widget means that you can choose your cat, dog, or another animal before creating the widget to get photos of them and them alone, which is pretty neat.

Next, a new cinematic photos improvement to your memories makes them “more 3D”, so to speak. Machine learning fills in part of the background behind the subject, allowing the virtual camera to move more freely and find better framing to the subject of the photo. It’s basically like a movie director camera that gives the appearance of swiveling around the subject more.

The memories carousel at the top of the Google Photos app is getting updated to show you something called “Event memories”. Instead of just individual photos, you’ll now see compilation memories of specific events like New Year’s Eve, Halloween, birthdays, graduations, and more. You can rename these or remove them from the photos grid entirely, making them more personal to you.

Lastly, Photos Memories is now available on your Nest Hub devices! Just click the “Your day” card on the left of the home screen to see today’s memories in a slideshow just as you would on Google Photos via the web or your phone. You can see an example of this below. What do you feel is missing from the service as we head into 2022? Let me know in the comments if you welcome all of these changes or think they’re just extra clutter.