Get Unlimited Photo Storage and More with Google Photos

The convenience of having a digital camera on your smartphone is made even greater by familiarizing yourself with all the things you can do using Google Photos.

While there are a lot of ways to backup and store your photos, Google Photos tops them all by offering truly unlimited backup of all the photos (and videos) you take—and for free. Plus, it’s available to both Android and iPhone users.

But easy storage is just one of its multitude of features. It also offers a host of practical and fun ways to explore, enhance, and even get creative with your photo library. Here are a few of our favorite Google Photos functions:

Search: Google’s detailed auto-tagging of images, including facial recognition, lets you search through your library and accurately retrieve photos using just about any criteria you care to use. Search by name, category, or even terms like “dog” or “statue” to find just what you’re looking for.

Label people—and even pets: Whether you’re using the mobile apps or web version, click on Albums, and at the top of the screen you’ll see a few pre-set options. One is “People &Pets.” Click it and you’ll see head shots from all your photos. Then, click a person and enter their name. In the future, searching by name in Google Photos will make it easier to find (almost) every picture of that person, dog, or cat.

Quick Select: On a mobile device, hold your finger on a picture to select it, then just start dragging your fingertip. All the pictures you touch will be selected. That makes it a lot easier to delete or move a bunch of photos in a batch or use them with special tools like creating animations, movies, or collages.

Create Collages, Animations, and More: Clicking the button at the top of Google Photos gives you options to create your own Albums, Collages, Animations, and on the mobile app, Movies. This gives you endless ways to creatively combine your photo library into interesting new arrangements and creations to share.

Learn More with Google Lens: Want more information on an image in your Google Photos? Google Lens is an option built right in which provides search results based on an image or its hidden info. For example, take a photo of a plant or flower, then use Lens to perform a search to find out what type it is. You can learn more about using the many features available through Google Photos here. It’s a convenient and enjoyable way to transform your photo library into more than just a dusty album on a (digital) shelf!