Google Photos fixes the most frustrating part of its photo-to-video tool

When Google first rolled out its AI photo-to-video tools in Google Photos, the idea was nice, but the execution could feel a little hit-or-miss. You could ask for subtle movement, or tap “I’m feeling lucky” and see what happens. Sometimes it worked as you expected. Other times, not so much. That’s now changing.

In a support page post, Google just introduced a text prompts element to the Photo to video feature. The new option gives you a say in how your pictures are animated instead of leaving everything up to the AI’s mood. Videos generated with the tool can also include audio by default, which should make the results feel a bit more finished when you share them.

The new prompt box appears alongside the existing animation options. You can type in what kind of motion, effect, or style you’re after, tweak your prompt if the first attempt isn’t quite right, or tap one of Google’s suggested prompts. Text prompts are limited to users aged 18 and over, and availability still depends on your region.

This update won’t surprise our regular readers. Back in October, we spotted signs of the custom prompt box in testing during an APK teardown of the Google Photos app, sitting just below the original animation options. It was pretty clear it would be rolling out at some point, but we didn’t know when.

Photo to video lives inside the Create tab, which groups together Google Photos’ growing list of generative tools. That includes Remix, which turns photos into illustrations in styles like anime or comics, as well as the new Me Meme feature.

As with Google’s other AI features, there are daily limits on how many videos you can generate, with those on the paid Google AI plans given a more generous allocation. Stating the obvious, Google also notes that results won’t always be accurate, and encourages feedback to help shape where these tools go next.