Owners of Pixel or a Google One subscription will no longer be the only ones able to benefit from the AI-powered photo editing functions in Google Photos! The Magic Retouch tool will soon be available to everyone, on Android and iOS.
Google offers a whole bunch of functions in its Google Photos application which, thanks to AI, make it easy to carry out complex photo edits with simple and intuitive actions, such as repositioning the subject, removing an unsightly trash can or moving the sky from the gray to blue. Particularly popular tools, which the company traditionally reserves for its home smartphones, the Pixel, or for Google One subscribers – a paid service at 19.99 euros per month or 249.99 euros per year, which allows you to take advantage of space additional online storage and share it with five other users, and provides access to Google’s VPN.
But this exclusivity is about to come to an end! In a blog post published on April 10, the Internet giant announces that some of its editing tools will be available free to everyone within Google Photos from May 15. This will particularly be the case for the “Magic Retouch” functions, which allows you to move objects in the photo, “Portrait Lighting” which allows you to correct backlighting, “Photo Unblur, which allows you to deblur a photo, and the famous “Magic eraser”, which allows you to erase elements of the image. Excellent news for all Android users, who will not have to pay to edit their images with just a few taps!
Magic retouch: AI-powered editing functions
The “Magic Eraser” function is particularly popular with users. It allows you to remove an unwanted element from a photo in just a few seconds. A street lamp, a red light, a person… Anything that can spoil an image is erased thanks to artificial intelligence which is responsible for recreating pixels from those appearing around the deleted object. The result is both quick and stunning.
However, there are some conditions to respect to take advantage of these new features. First of all, you must have a smartphone running at least iOS 15 or Android 8, and equipped with 3 GB of RAM to be able to use the various Google Photos editing tools. In addition, the “Magic Retouch” function, powered by AI, requires 4 GB of RAM. However, some limits are in order. This function will be limited to ten uses per month for those who do not pay for their Google One subscription or who do not own a Pixel smartphone. In addition, certain more advanced tools, such as “Best take” or the editing of ambient noise on videos will remain reserved for owners of the manufacturer’s phones. It’s always a catch!