Is Google Photos a must? With these manufacturers, no, they got rid of it in a nice way.
Smartphone photo sensors are becoming more and more impressive. The result is bulky photos that need to be stored somewhere. Several solutions: dump all your stock onto an external drive or a PC, leave it on the smartphone storage (if you have enough) or opt for an online solution.
The hegemony of Google Photos
This is what Google has pushed with its Pixels, Google Photos allows you to save all your photos and videos in original quality or a little compressed to take up less space. A very practical solution in particular since it is free with a basic offer of 15 GB (or unlimited if you still carry a Pixel 5).
Problem, by opting for this solution, we focus on the Google photo application. It’s not too hard, Google Photos still comes pre-installed on Android, along with a long list of Google apps. But at the same time, manufacturers add their overlays and related apps, including a photo gallery which often offers interesting options.
Missing functions
Google Photos suffers from a few shortcomings, particularly in basic functions. For example, it is impossible to mirror a photo in its editing mode. Also, we deprive ourselves of some photo editing options, such as pixelization offered by OnePlus, for example, or clipping at Xiaomi.
Until now, you had to juggle two apps if you wanted to have the best of both worlds. But Oppo, OnePlus, Realme and Xiaomi have reached an agreement with Google issuing them a pass, allowing them to display the Google Photos photo library in their native applications.
Google Photos in manufacturer apps
Since then, you can edit a photo from Google Photos from an app from these manufacturers, modify it locally before it is saved again on the Google service and all this in complete transparency for the user.
We wanted to test this new feature with a Redmi Note 13 Pro+ and a OnePlus 12, but it seems that it is not yet available in our latitudes. The deployment of this function should take place in the coming weeks. It is currently available in the United States, as we can see from the screenshots of our colleagues atAndroidFont.
Available from Xiaomi via an APK
Note that on Xiaomi’s side, the process of integrating Google Photos into the Gallery app is not yet complete. The Chinese manufacturer indicated during MWC 2024 that an update would occur in March/April pushing the Gallery application to version 3.6.2.10-global. Frustrated not to be able to play with this news featurewe have retrieved the APK for the update in question.
It works perfectly and unlocks the import of all Google Photos into the Gallery app. Please note, if we provide the download link here, remember that it remains dangerous to install an update not certified by the manufacturer. Moreover, he does not hesitate to remind you of this before installation.
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