Six months after announcing support for Apple’s Live Photos, Google Photos for iOS is adding image stabilization to the GIF-like feature.
Using the same technology that allows Motion Stills to turn Live Photos into looping clips, the updated app freezes the Live Photo background to erase bumps and shakes.
“Now, with the latest Google Photos update on iOS, you can make your Live Photos smoother and more shareable in just a tap,” the team wrote in a Google+ post.
Apple introduced Live Photos in September 2015 as one of the standout features of its iPhone 6s and 6s Plus handsets. Whenever you take a picture with the function enabled, your smartphone also captures a three-second video surrounding the time said photo was snapped.
But the moving images are not easily transferred to non-iOS devices. So, as VentureBeat reports, Google now lets users save Live Photos as .MOV videos, which can be posted to social media and emailed or texted to friends.
This update also includes the ability to sort photos in albums chronologically or by recently added. And, based on user feedback, you can now choose a new thumbnail for faces in People.
“Fear not—this is also live on [the] Web and [is] coming soon to Android,” the Google Photos team said.
Similarly, Facebook is testing a hybrid algorithm designed to add a bit of stability to shaky 360-degree videos, in hopes of improving the experience for all users—specifically, those making and watching the clips.
Comment below and do let us know what your thoughts are on converting Live Photos into GIFs with the all new help from Google Photos for iOS. Are you happy with this brand new feature? If you have already tried it out then comment below and let us know about your precious experience with the upgrade.