Data Backup Digest

One of the newest and most prolific online portal for sharing digital images and videos, Google Photos was actually a byproduct of the company's lackluster Google+ social network. Despite the fact that Google+ has yet to really catch mainstream popularity, Google Photos has quickly become a popular and valuable service.

Although Google Photos was able to reach the hands of consumers in rather short order, the service was still lacking some important features. However, thanks to a recent update, version 1.18, many Google Photo users' prayers have been answered.

Because the update was originally rolled out on April 1, 2016, many users thought the updates were nothing more than an April Fool's prank. After all, the team with Google is known for their creative and highly believable April Fool's stunts. However, the new functionality is not a joke.

Manual Backup

Google Photos has always included the ability to backup your photos automatically. In fact, the software can even be set to automatically capture new photos from all of your devices, including your phone, desktop computer, laptop and tablet. However, Thanks to version 1.18 of Google Photos, users are now able to select individual photos for archival.

Using the new Google Photos manual backup option is incredibly simple. All you have to do is select the image or images you want to backup, select the three dot menu and select "Back up now.' This will initiate the backup process, which may take several minutes depending on the number of images you have chosen.

Emoji Categorization and Search

The second feature introduced in Google Photos 1.18 is the ability to categorize images according to different Google-supplied emojis. Unsurprisingly, this is also the feature that caused many to think that the 1.18 update was nothing more than an April Fool's joke.

In case you aren't aware of what an emoji is, it's the little icons that are typically used during text-based chat that come in the form of cartoonish smiley faces, sad faces, surprised faces and more. They're used when chatting online to quickly express an emotion, and Google Photos is using them in a very similar manner.

With emoji categorization, you no longer have to come up with the right word or phrase for your images. Instead, you can simply choose a face that is happy or sad, or one with any other number of emotions, for all of your categorization needs. While this feature is more of a novelty than anything else, it is a nice option for the younger generation of computer and smartphone users who already use emojis on a regular basis.

The Future of Google Photos

Although the future of Google+ is shaky at best, Google Photos is certainly here to stay. Moreover, if the team at Google continues to introduce new features and functionality through regular updates, the service is bound to become even more accessible and user friendly as time goes by. To find out more information about Google Photos, please visit their official website, which is located at photos.google.com.