Google Photos sees several app improvements

The Google Photos app has been updated to make it easier to navigate your gallery and view image information. Google says the photo view — the screen that appears when you open an image in Google Photos — has been redesigned to provide a “simpler, more modern, and more intuitive UI” while adding a new light mode, glanceable photo details, and streamlined action menus. These changes are available now for iPhone users, and will be coming to the Google Photos app for Android “soon,” according to Google. The update doesn’t remove any of the previous functionality provided by the app, but some features may have been relocated. [Image: https://platform.theverge.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/Google-Photos-UI-improvements-July-2025.jpg?quality=90&strip=all] The biggest visual change is the introduction of light mode, which will automatically match the photo view background to match your device’s system theme. Information is now also displayed at the top of each photograph that provides the date, time, and location where it was captured. Some pill-shaped “badges” are sometimes located underneath those details that allow users to play or pause a Live or Motion photo, change the photo’s category, save shared images, and manage storage. Several actions can now be found under the three-dot menu at the top right of the photo view, including About, Create, Cast, Save as, Download or Delete from device, and Google Lens. The latter was previously located on the photo view taskbar, and has now been replaced with an “Add to” menu that allows users to archive photos, organize them into albums, or secure them in a locked folder. [Image: Thumbnails in stacks now have their own three-dot menu. https://platform.theverge.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/Google-Photos-update-thumbnails.png?quality=90&strip=all] Lastly, photo stacks and bursts can now be managed via their own three-dot menu, which will appear beside whatever thumbnail is currently selected. Here you’ll find options to change the top image, remove images, unstack, or select multiple photos to take bulk actions.