Your Google Photos just got 4 huge video editing upgrades – what’s new

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ZDNET’s key takeaways

• Google Photos has unveiled a series of new video editing tools.  
• The highlight is pre-set templates that sync to music.
• Most of the tools are available for both Android and iOS.

While Google Photos might not be the first name that jumps to mind when you think of video editing apps, that could change.

Google has introduced new video editing tools for the Photos app, each one aimed at making it a little easier to quickly and easily edit your videos. While some of these tools are only for Android, most of them are available for both Android and iOS. 

Here’s a look at what’s new.

Shareable video from premade templates

If you want to edit a video but don’t know where to start, Google Photos on Android now has pre-made templates that include text, music, and cuts all synced to a soundtrack. All you need to do is choose the photos and videos you want, and Photos will do the rest to make a ready-to-share creation. 

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To use this too, head to the Create tab and tap “Highlight video.” Once you’ve chosen your photos and videos (you can pick up to 50), you’ll select what aspect ratio you want for each and add a soundtrack. You can use your own music or pick from a surprisingly deep catalogue with categories like dramatic, reflective, rockin’, and upbeat. I chose “Ride of the Valkyries” for a selection of photos and videos from a recent Disney cruise with my family. After about a minute, my creation was ready. As advertised, everything was edited together perfectly with the music, and I had a perfect video to share. 

Handle editing on your own or let Gemini do the work

The standalone video editor for both Android and iOS gets an upgrade, too, and the new version is faster and easier to use. There’s now a universal timeline that lets you edit multiple clips and an adaptive canvas for easier editing. You can let Gemini enhance images like it sees fit or tinker on your own and do things like crop the aspect ratio, apply filters, adjust the brightness, color, and tone, add text, and more.

Create your own soundtrack

If your video needs a little background ambiance, you can add music tracks with a tap. You can choose from music that’s on your device or pick from categories like bright, chill, dramatic, funky, romantic, or sad. Once you select a song, you choose what part of the track you want. I tried the tool on a few recent videos of my kids and was worried the music would overpower the scene, but it ended up pretty well balanced. I could still hear what was being said perfectly, with the music adding a nice atmosphere.  

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Available for both Android and iOS, you can access this by choosing a video, tapping “Edit” and selecting “Music.”

Enhance your story with text

In addition to the ability to add music, you can also add text overlays to your videos on Android. From the video editor, choose “Text,” and you can pick from about 15 different fonts and more than 20 colors. You can position the text anywhere over the video. 

The redesigned editor, Google explained, is also now the default video editor on Android. If you just need a quick and easy edit for an individual video clip, just open the video and tap edit. 

Google said that all of these additions are either available now or rolling out soon, so if you don’t see them now, they’re on the way. When I checked my Google Photos app this morning, I was able to access them all.