If you need to free up some space for your Android or iOS powered phone, going through the Google Photos app is probably one of the easiest ways to do this. From personal experience, I can tell you that many of the photos in my Photos app are ones I don’t need or want or are duplicates. If you have an itchy shutter finger, you could have a few accidentally snapped photos in your gallery.
Stack up your pictures in the Google Photos app to save time and space
Google is adding a new feature to Google Photos that saves similar photos by stacking them up. You can decide which of the stacked photos looks the best, save that one and delete the rest. Or you can save some time by tapping on a stack, which will give you an option to have AI choose the best shot in the stack and delete the rest with a single tap. The result is a more organized photo gallery and at the same time you’ve opened up some more storage on your phone.
The new stacking feature has been compared to Pixel’s Top Shot which captures multiple frames before and after you press the shutter button and then uses AI to determine the best-looking photo from the batch. While Top Shot is available on Pixel handsets only, the new photo stacking tool is expected to be coming to all Google Photos users, possibly those with an iPhone as well. It’s all part of a plan by Google to infuse more apps with AI.
You’ll know whether the update containing the feature has hit your phone by opening the Google Photos app on your handset. Tap the profile icon in the upper right corner. Tap Google Photos Settings > Preferences and enable the “Group similar photos” option if it appears on your phone.
How to tell if the feature is on your phone
If that option appears on your device, congrats! It means that you have the tool on your phone. Google is expected to deliver the new Google Photos stacking tool to Android phones first. Some phone owners hate to remove any picture from their gallery. For some, it’s a superstition, for others, they want to keep every snapshot taken even if it takes up memory. What will you do once the photo stacking feature makes its way to your handset?
Remember, at the end of the day, stacking photos not only makes the photo gallery look better, but it will also save you from scrolling through many duplicate photos and it will give you a little more storage.
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