Microsoft has announced a major Photos app update on Windows 11 that adds a galore of new features and capabilities. The app now supports options like Background Blur, support search for objects and locations in images stored on OneDrive. Finally, it can read the video portion of Motion Photos captured on Samsung and Google devices. All these features are available starting in Photos app 2023.11090.13001.0 that is gradually rolling out to Canary and Dev channel insiders.
Background Blur
You can now enhance your photo's focal point by entering Edit mode and applying the new Background Blur feature. The Photos app effortlessly identifies the photo's background, allowing you to easily emphasize your subject while blurring the background with just one click.
If you want, you can fine-tune the effect by altering the Blur Intensity or use the Brush Tool to make specific adjustments to the blurred areas.
Content search for photos on OneDrive
OneDrive (home or personal) account users can now easily locate specific photos by their content. To use this new feature, ensure that you are logged in to your Microsoft account, go to the OneDrive Personal section in the app, and input your search query in the search bar located at the top. For instance, if you're searching for a particular photo, type in the relevant keywords, like Car, Beach, Birthday, Vacation, and so on.
Location search
Photos can now be located by their place of capture. This function applies to all photos in your collection, including those saved in local file systems, OneDrive, and iCloud.
Samsung and Google Motion Photo support
The updated apps allows viewing the video portion of Motion Photos taken on Samsung and Google devices.
Fixes and improvements
- Based on community feedback, Microsoft updated app's up-sampling logic so that images no longer appear pixelated when zooming in by a large factor.
- Touch support for slideshow is now available. Swipe left and right to easily navigate to the next photo in your slideshow.
- Edit and Create Video options are now easily accessible at the top of the gallery view.
- The previous issue where an app restart was required for iCloud photos to start showing is fixed. Once you have enabled photo syncing in your iCloud for Windows app, you will see photos stored on iCloud start showing up.
The app is rolling out gradually, but you can grab it manually from websites like store.rg-adguard.net.
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