Google Photos Update: Finally Adds This Long-Awaited Video Feature!

Surprisingly, a feature often considered fundamental in photo and video apps is missing from Google Photos. Thankfully, this oversight is set to be rectified soon.

It’s well-known that Google Photos is a superb platform for browsing images and videos captured on your smartphone. However, the service provided by Mountain View has evolved far beyond a mere photo gallery, incorporating a variety of features from sorting to editing your pictures. Essentially, unless you have very specific needs, Google Photos offers all the necessary tools.

Also read – Google Photos finally makes its way to TVs for an enhanced, AI-powered experience, though not on the devices we expected

But there’s another side to this. Behind all these features, there are some glaring omissions that are hard to fathom. Some functionalities, once added, seem so logical that it’s puzzling why they weren’t included earlier. The feature we’re discussing here is a prime example. Reported by our colleagues at Android Authority in version 7.58 of Google Photos, it addresses a long-standing request from many users.

A Long-Overdue Basic Feature is Coming to Google Photos

When playing a video in Google Photos, tapping the three vertical dots at the top right corner opens a menu of options. It’s here one realizes what’s missing: the ability to change playback speed. The screenshots below illustrate how Google plans to address this oversight. Positioned just below the loop playback option, a “Playback Speed” setting allows users to choose from four speeds (in addition to the normal speed): 0.25X, 0.5X, 1.5X, and 2X.

This feature appears to be nearly complete, if not already finalized, so we might expect to see it on our smartphones within a few weeks at most. As per usual with Google, it’s unclear whether the company plans to roll out the feature soon or keep it on hold for a longer period.