Google Photos Gains 'Favorite' Feature and Shared Album 'Hearts' - MacRumors
Skip to Content

Google Photos Gains 'Favorite' Feature and Shared Album 'Hearts'

by

Google Photos is set to plug a couple of holes in its basic feature set over the next few days, bringing it in line with similar functions available in Apple Photos.

Google Photos
Up until now, the cloud-based photo service has lacked the ability to favorite photos, but that's about to change. Google says it's rolling out an option for users to tap a star in the upper right of any photo in their library, and the photos will be automatically added to a new Favorites album.

Google Photos will also soon let users "heart" photos that have been shared with them, which essentially functions the same way the "Like" button does in Apple's Shared Photo Albums, adding a touch of social interaction to the service.



Google has promised additional Photos features powered by some AI innovations the company showcased at its I/O event earlier this month. They include suggested quick edits to improve images, color pop, and the ability to colorize old photos.

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

Top Rated Comments

109 months ago
Is this still macrumors? Sure seems to be an increased amount of non Mac headlines/coverage.
Says a lot about Apple's recent string of innovations. Oh wait....
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
tigres Avatar
109 months ago
Is this still macrumors? Sure seems to be an increased amount of non Mac headlines/coverage.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
109 months ago
Is this still macrumors? Sure seems to be an increased amount of non Mac headlines/coverage.
A post of this type comes up from someone in various articles here and there for years and years--so, yeah, it's still MacRumors, just as it has been for a long time.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
69Mustang Avatar
109 months ago
Is this still macrumors? Sure seems to be an increased amount of non Mac headlines/coverage.
Insularity isn't a laudable trait. It leads to multiple articles about watch bands and animoji.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
109 months ago
Yeah, but it still has Google’s algorithms and who-knows what else crawling all over your family’s photos.

Love iCloud Photo Library.
After the initial long upload to Googles unlimited storage, Google photos very impressive. The accuracy of search is amazing as well (as one would expect from them). I understand privacy concerns, but this is the world we live in now. Something is always parsing the data no matter who you are with and what they claim.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
109 months ago
Whilst some of what they showed off at the recent I/O (particularly colouring old black and white photos) looks pretty cool, I could never trust google to manage my family photos.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Popular Stories

Apple Maps Google Maps Icons

Google Maps Showing 'Lake America' in U.S., Apple Maps Yet to Follow

Monday August 31, 2026 6:33 am PDT by
Google Maps users in the U.S. will now see the name "Lake America" instead of "Lake Ontario" for the Great Lake that straddles the New York—Ontario border. Google said it made this change in response to the U.S. Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) updating the name for "Lake Ontario" to "Lake America," following an executive order issued by U.S. President Donald Trump last week....
iPhone 18 Pro Burgundy

New Texture and Grain Controls Coming to Photographic Styles With iPhone 18 Pro

Wednesday September 9, 2026 12:45 pm PDT by
Apple today announced new texture and grain controls for Photographic Styles with the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max. Photographic Styles are tone presets that adjust the color and warmth of a photo as it is captured, rather than as a filter applied afterward, while preserving skin tones. The iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max gain a redesigned computational imaging pipeline for the ...
iphone 18 pro photography

Apple Announces iPhone 18 Pro Photography Exhibition

Wednesday September 16, 2026 7:20 am PDT by
Apple today announced "What Holds Us," a photography exhibition featuring work shot exclusively on the iPhone 18 Pro by Alex Prager, Jack Davison, and Jimmy Chin. Curated by Kathy Ryan, the exhibition explores human connection through crowd scenes, portraits involving clay, and mountain photography. The exhibition will be on display in New York City from September 18 to 20, before traveling to ...