The Google Photos app is definitely one of the best free photo editing apps out there, offering features like Magic Eraser, Photo Unblur, Portrait Light, and more for free. The app was launched in 2015, and since then it has been the go-to option for many users to store and manage photos. You can imagine the popularity of Google Photos by looking at the recently released usage numbers from Google. According to them, Google Photos is used by more than 1.5 billion people each month. Considering the Worldometer number for the current world population is 8.2 billion, more than 18% of the world’s population uses Google Photos each month. That’s an impressive number.
Advertisement
That said, on May 28, 2025, the Google Photos app turned 10 years old, and to celebrate that, Google announced that they’re bringing two AI editing features to the iOS version of the app later this year. These features were previously only accessible on the Pixel devices. The introduction of these features will ensure that you can make professional edits to your photos without having prior editing knowledge. So, let’s check out what those Google AI features are and how to use them.
Google Pixel-exclusive AI features are coming to the Google Photos app on iPhone
Reimagine and Auto Frame are the two features that Google is bringing to the iOS version of Google Photos. These features were first introduced at the 2024 Made by Google event alongside the Pixel 9 series. The Reimagine feature allows you to alter the backgrounds and objects in an image using text prompts, whereas the Auto Frame feature uses AI to come up with suggestions on how to better frame your photos. First, let’s check out how to use the Reimagine feature:
Advertisement
- Open the Google Photos app on your iPhone and select the photo that you want to edit.
- Tap the Edit button at the bottom of the screen.
- Choose the Magic Editor icon in the bottom-left corner.
- Now, circle over the subject that you wish to reimagine. Then, tap the Reimage button in the bottom-right corner.
- Give a prompt of what you want to add to the selected area. After that, tap the continue icon.
The Google Photos app will take a few seconds to generate the output relevant to the prompt. You’ll be presented with multiple results; you can choose the one that you find the best. Now, to use the Auto Frame feature, follow these steps:
- In the Google Photos app, select the photo on which you want to use the Auto Frame feature.
- Tap the Edit button and choose Magic Eraser.
- Press the Preset icon at the bottom-center of the screen and pick Auto Frame from the menu that appears.
The Auto Frame feature will take a few seconds and come up with multiple suggestions that will look good on the selected image. Select a suggestion of your choice, and then tap the Done icon in the bottom-right corner.
Features coming to the Google Photos Android app
In addition to iOS, the Reimagine and Auto Frame features are also coming to all Android smartphones. Fortunately for Android users, these features will roll out in June this year, unlike on iOS, where they’re coming later this year. Besides these two features, Google is introducing a few other capabilities for the Android version of its Photos app.
Advertisement
First, the Photos app is getting a UI overhaul to make it easier for you to access its editing tools and AI-driven features. You can now create a QR code for albums and share it with your friends. They’ll be able to view as well as add new photos to the album just by scanning the QR code. You’ll find a new “Places” option under the Collection tab; tapping it will show pictures pinned on the map. This will eventually make it easy to recognize the place where the pictures were taken. If you can’t find a particular picture in the Photos app, then you can now search for it using natural prompts, like “me in a narrow black shirt.”
Similar to the memories feature of the Apple Photos app, the Google Photos app will now also regularly create a collection of photos. You’ll also be able to create short highlight clips using photos and videos stored in the Photos app. The Photos app will use AI to combine the selected photos and videos into a single video with suitable background music.
Advertisement
Along with all these, the Google Photos app will let you stack similar photos, customize your memories collection, and free up some space using the “Free up space on this device” option. Again, all these features will be rolled out globally to the Google Photos Android app in June.
