Google has announced Google Photos, a new photo service that lets you store an unlimited number of photos. The iPhone and Android app can be downloaded from the App Store and the Play Store. The app sorts pictures in much the same way as you are used to from the Photos app on the iPhone.

Watch the Google Photos introduction video

Google Images is Apple’s Photos … but unlimited

Google says in a blog posting that we are making more and more photos, which are spread across a variety of devices and online storage services. The memory of your device or the storage space of the online storage is becoming full. And finding that one picture can become a hell of a job. And then you also need to have the right app (Instagram?) and the correct credentials. With Google Photos, those problems are history because you can store an unlimited number of photos in the cloud. Google keeps them in high quality in the original resolution up to 16 megapixels and 1080p for video.

Unlimited storage? Still not quite

By default, Google stores the pictures in “high quality” (up to 16MP). This is good enough to print, but they will be compressed. This solution is ideal for photos taken with a simple camera or smartphone. Do you have photos of better quality or do you shoot pictures with a DSLR, and the original quality must be preserved, then you can. But in that case, there is a maximum of 15GB storage, the amount of free storage space you get with your Google account.

At Apple, you get 5GB of storage for free. If you want more, then you need to pay more too: $0.99 per month for 20GB, 200GB for $3.99 and 500GB for $9.99. For demanding consumers, there is a 1 terabyte subscription of $19.99 per month.

Google Photos automatically backs up all your pictures, so you do not have to anything. The app sorts your photos automatically, based on people, places, and things. Adding your own tags or labels is not necessary. Neither making albums. If you are looking for a particular photo, you can search based on keywords and quickly get all the pictures of dogs or birthdays. Google apparently analyzes all the content of the photos, as they do with email. But they promise that everything remains private, so no one can figure out that you have a huge collection of dog pictures.

Simple photo editing

Google Images is obviously no Photoshop. But you can perform simple edits with it. Google has made it as simple as possible: with a tap on the screen you can enhance color, exposure, and the object. Wit the plus button, you can also create collages and animations. Or even a video with background music.

Are you clumsy with pictures, then there is the Assistant, which helps you out with suggestions on what you can do with the photos and videos. This wizard helps you, for example, to create a collage or a travel diary. Of course, there are all kinds of options for sharing, such as Twitter, WhatsApp or Google Hangouts. Another useful feature is sharing a lot of photos. You can create a link to share hundreds of photos at once.