Those who love to use Google Photos are about to receive an unpleasant surprise, according to reports released on Nov. 6, 2020. XDA Developers report that Google Photos 5.18 has confirmed they are offering premium editing features for their Google One members.
Google Photos will still be offering their editing features to nonmembers, however, they will be reserving special features for members. Users who are not members will receive prompts urging them to become one.
XDA Developers discovered strings of code suggesting what these changes may be — such as three preprocessing suggestions like Dynamic, HDR, and Vivid. They even found codes suggesting that Google Photos will allow members to use filters to edit the sky.
XDA further states that they cannot confirm “if the new Preprocessing and Skypallete suggestions will be locked behind the Google One subscription.”
According to The Verge, Google has already been in the process of testing the new code for the app. There have been various tweets about the new aspects of Google Photos. Most of which are not favorable for the app.
It seems the company may have been choosing various random app users to try the new feature. According to The Verge, Google told them they have not locked the free “color pop” tool; only offering a new version to its Google One members.
At this time Google offers its “color pop” feature to anyone while using portrait mode. However, if a person wishes to edit an image using a different mode they will need to be a Google One member.
Google has started offering subscriptions at $1.99 per month for 100GB of cloud storage. If a person chooses to subscribe to the 2TB storage plan they will pay $9.99 per month.
Written by Sheena Robertson
Sources:
The Verge: Google Photos might put some editing features behind a subscription paywall; Chris Welch
XDA Developers: Google Photos 5.18 confirms premium editing features for Google One members; Pranob Mehrotra
Top and Featured Image Courtesy of Neon Tommy’s Flickr Page – Creative Commons License