Google Photos adds likes for shared photos and videos

Google’s latest update to Photos adds a dash of social media-like functionality to the popular photo backup and sharing app.

With the app’s newest feature, users will find a heart icon along the bottom of the screen when they’re viewing shared photos, videos and albums. Tapping this icon will notify the user that originally shared the content, as well as any other sharing recipients, that their friend or family member liked what they saw. This is different from the star icon which adds a photo, video or album to the user’s favourites list.

According to Android Police, the feature only works with newly shared albums. For any albums you may have shared in the past, the heart icon will not appear. Additionally, it appears this feature is part of a server-side update — some users first started reporting gaining access to it as early as late last month — so it’s likely Google is rolling out likes to Photos’ wider user base at a gradual clip.

Source: Android Police