Google Photos for iOS gets ‘Motion Stills’ live photo editing feature

NEW DELHI: Google launched its Motion Stills app for iOS back in June. The app uses video stabilization to freeze the background into a still photo, enabling users to create sweeping cinematic pans. It also helps to remove shakiness for creating smooth GIFs from Live Photos. And now, Google has added the same feature to its Photos app for iOS, through an update.

The company said its new Motion Stills algorithm uses linear programming to compute a virtual camera path that is optimized to recast videos and bursts as if they were filmed using stabilization equipment. This yields a still background for creating cinematic pans.


The update also adds the ability to sort album photos in chronological or recently added order, which will be available soon for Android users. Further, the new feature allows users to make Live Photos smoother and more shareable with just one tap.

Earlier this year, Google introduced the Live Photo feature in Google Photos app for iOS. Live Photos can also be backed up.

Apart from Live Photos support, Google Photos also received the Split View functionality for better multitasking. This enables users to use Google Photos side-by-side along with other apps that support the same feature.