Google Photos enables non-destructive edits in latest update
Without this, Photos would keep the original and a new version of the picture every time you saved an edit. This would create a scattered collection of edited images that you probably didn’t want to hold onto.
Now when you make an edit, Google Photos will only show the most updated image. However, you’re able to revert to the previous photo at anytime. The Google Photos team describes the process as, “fully reversible and non-destructive.”
But as usually happens, upcoming features can be uncovered by digging into the code. Android Police found a tool to help you rotate images more easily, and the possibility of a storage promotion for Motorola owners. This didn’t trigger anything for me when I loaded it up on a Droid Turbo 2, but it may be a few versions away.
The new features are found in Google Photos version 1.17, which is rolling out to the Play Store and available now in APK Mirror.
The impact on you: Google Photos isn’t a full-blown editing service like Adobe Lightroom or Google’s own Snapseed, but it can make minor edits if you just want to tweak the lighting, color, or other details of an image. There have been a lot of updates lately to Google Photos, which shows that the company has a pretty high priority on making this a first-rate service.