Google Photos, an application that allows its users to store and share images online, celebrates its first anniversary this May.
According to Google's official blog, it is currently used by 200 million people who have collectively uploaded 1.6 billion videos, collages and images, using services offered by the application. It also claims to have applied 2 trillion labels, of which 24 billion are selfies.
With the need for increased storage space rising each year, services like Google Photos that allow its users to save large amounts of data in cloud storage are becoming indispensable. This is proven by the fact that Google Photos has facilitated the freeing of a combined 13.7 petabytes, or 13,700 terabytes, of data from the phones of its several billion users all over the world, as stated by Google on its blog. The enormity of this figure is easily understood when people note Google's statement that it would take one 424 years to look through those many photos.
At present, Google Photos offers unlimited free storage for 'high quality images' or images of a resolution of not more than 16 megapixels. However, users who wish to store their images at their original quality need to pay for the service. According to a report by Android Police, this may no longer apply to users of Google's own phone, Nexus, which will allow them to upload their photos, as well as videos at their original quality.
As stated earlier, Google Photos also allows its users to make collages, albums and movies, and share these creations with others online. Google celebrated the birthday by presenting users with tips and updates to the application on its blog. One update allows families to create a common album for the family, where all the members can share images with each other. It has also several keyboard shortcuts to make the app more user-friendly.
