google photos e1508230156776Google updated its Photos app on Monday with a new facial recognition feature that lets users organize pictures of their family pets more easily.

Since it was launched, Google Photos has employed facial recognition to identify humans and help users sort their snaps by friend or family member, similar to how Faces works in Apple Photos.

The latest version of Google's own photos app builds on its face detection feature by recognizing cats and dogs by name, so users no longer need to type in "cat" or "dog" into the search field to bring up the relevant pictures.

Going forward, simply labeling a photo of a furry friend will cause any other photos of the cat or dog to be grouped under that name, just like they do for people.

In addition to the pet grouping feature, Google says users can also now "search by breed to see photos of your Poodle or Maine Coon", or even search using a single cat or dog emoji.

The new pet detection naturally feeds into the app's automated movie generator, found in the Assistant view, and users can create their own short films by tapping on the new photo group of their pet, selecting their favorite pictures, and tapping the "+" symbol.

Google has also included six "pet-inspired songs" to choose from in the movie editor to be twinned with four-legged family collections.

Google Photos is a free download for iPhone and iPad available on the App Store. [Direct Link]

Top Rated Comments

SmugMaverick Avatar
74 months ago
People will think this is silly, but I really want this feature to come to photos on the iphone.
LOL

Apple don't give a crap about AI, they're all about animoji as software innovation.
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Chupa Chupa Avatar
74 months ago
Oh great. Now parents everywhere will be busted when Rover dies and they opt to surreptitiously swap him out to avoid giving little Sally the bad news.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
christarp Avatar
74 months ago
People will think this is silly, but I really want this feature to come to photos on the iphone.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
samcraig Avatar
74 months ago
This must be that ‘innovation’ we’re so badly missing with our Apple devices. Call me back when google has a product that can rival a Mac.
Sarcasm noted. You do realize this is a software feature of Google Photos. So at best, your snarky comment would be better suited if you compared it to Apple's Photos app.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
CarpalMac Avatar
74 months ago
I don't want strangers to know what I look like.
Hope you don't have a Facebook account then!
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Rojaaemon Avatar
74 months ago
My dog is soooo excited about this!

My cat, not so much. He doesn't do social media.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)

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