Google Photos on the web gets a huge photo editing boost

Google has just unpacked a whole case of good news specifically targeted towards those of us that love using Google Photos on the web. While the feature set for Photos on the web always lags behind what you see in the Android app (which is also available for Chromebooks, by the way), there’s something I prefer about being able to simply navigate to the photos.google.com URL to see, edit and share my pictures and videos on my Chromebook.

Even with Phone Hub and the ability to utilize the Recent Photos from my Pixel 7 Pro, I still tend to just go to Google Photos in a new tab to see all my stuff, make edits, and share from that space. I’m not saying it is a superior method by any stretch of the imagination, but I do prefer it most times when I just need to see a recent photo or video and do something with it.

New features coming to Google Photos on the web

Just yesterday on the Google Photos Twitter account, Google announced that a few fan-favorite editing options will finally be making their way to the web. Portrait Light, Portrait Blur, Color Pop and sky enhancements are all on the way to the browser version of Google Photos.

My account is yet to gain this access, but Gabriel’s has it already and that means the rollout is definitely proceeding. I’d imagine we’ll all see the new tools pretty soon, and that means adding portrait blur to non-portrait shots, shifting the lighting, and adding the Color Pop feature will all be possible from the web in the next few days.

But there is a catch. These new features are for Google One subscribers, so if you aren’t already in that group, you won’t see the updates at this point. It is unclear for now whether or not Google will bring these features to those outside of Google One membership, but I doubt that will happen anytime soon.

As an overall subscription, Google One is actually pretty solid. With added cloud storage, unique features in different apps, a free VPN, 10% off all purchases in the Google Store, and a robust backup solution for Android, Google One is a robust set of add-ons for Google users across the board; and the benefits can be shared with up to 5 other accounts, too.

If you don’t really want any of that from Google, you can still access many of these features via the Android app and for many of you, that will still be a great option. And Pixel owners already get all the best Google Photos features right away, so joining Google One and getting more from the web version of Google Photos may not be a big deal to you, either.

For me, however, I love the web as a platform for delivering great app experiences. I love being able to navigate to a URL and get things done, and with Google Photos on the web, those abilities continue to expand. The power of the web is what draws me to Chromebooks, and seeing apps and services continue to become more robust makes me really happy, and I hope these additions to Google Photos delight you as much as the do me.