Google Photos gets updated with improved sharing features

Google is adding three big new features to Photos to make sharing pictures significantly easier than it is right now. For instance, if you want to show your friends a cool image, you’ll probably be forced to pass the device from person to person across the lounge. Now, however, the search engine has tweaked the app so that you can push the shots straight to a nearby TV as long as it’s got a Chromecast plugged in. But rather than just mirroring the smartphone’s display, this feature actually enables you to choose what you want your friends and relatives to see. That way, if you’ve got a not-safe-for-work background picture, or don’t want anyone seeing the notifications pop up, you can simply run the show like an old-school slide projector.

Secondly, Google is letting multiple Photos users subscribe and contribute their images to a single album. That way, if two people are all snapping away at a local concert, they can pool their resources into one directory. Even better, is that third parties can then subscribe to this feed and get notifications when new pictures have been added. The example that was given at the show was that far-away relatives can see their grandkids grow up, their devices buzzing every time more snaps are added.

Thirdly, the firm is enabling users to tag the important people in your life and search for them with tags, which is hoped will make finding that one great image a piece of cake. The first and third features will be hitting Android this week, with web and iOS variations expected to land at some point in the near future. Shared Albums, meanwhile, is tipped to launch “later in the year,” which we’d take to mean shortly before the holidays.

Developing…