Edgar Cervantes / Android Authority
TL;DR
- Google Photos is testing an alternative way to access the Ask Photos feature via a dedicated button visible in the image viewer.
- We’ve also spotted code for an “outfit collection” feature within Ask Photos, though there’s still some mystery to it.
Ask Photos is a feature within Google Photos that allows you to ask questions to the service to retrieve relevant images from your photo collection. For instance, you can ask “Photos that’d make great phone backgrounds,” or “What did I eat on my trip to Barcelona?” to get AI to give you the right results for such complex queries. This feature is currently available in the US only, and can be accessed by tapping on the Ask tab in the Photos app. Google Photos v7.52.0 includes code for a new way to access Ask Photos, and we’ve managed to activate it before its launch to give you an early look.
Google is working on providing users with an alternative way to access Ask Photos. Users will soon be able to tap a new Ask button whenever they are viewing a photo, without needing to exit the photo and navigate to the Ask tab.
Tapping on the button will open a bottom sheet where you can enter your question text or use voice input.
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Google Photos “Outfits collection”
Additionally, Google Photos’ Ask Photos is also working on an “Outfits collection” feature, which we spotted through these strings:
Code
<string name="photos_ellmann_mft_settings_subtitle">Manage preferences for the Outfits collection</string>
<string name="photos_ellmann_mft_settings_title">Organize your outfits</string>Here, “ellmann” is the internal codename for the Ask Photos feature. There isn’t enough information here to draw a sound conclusion, but it is apparent that users will be able to build a collection of outfits within Google Photos.
There’s a chance that the feature could integrate Google’s Doppl virtual try-on service. Doppl allows users to upload a photo and virtually try on outfits through pictures and screenshots of outfits. Doppl also enables users to bring the look to life with an AI-generated video. If this pans out, it would be an expansion of Ask Photos’ capabilities, as Ask Photos currently only uses AI to find relevant photos from your collection, rather than using AI to edit an image (that feature within Google Photos is called Help Me Edit).
We’ll have to wait for more clues to figure out exactly what Google is up to here.
⚠️ An APK teardown helps predict features that may arrive on a service in the future based on work-in-progress code. However, it is possible that such predicted features may not make it to a public release.
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