If you’ve noticed some features missing from Google Photos recently, then you’re not alone.
Google Photos undoes one of its most recent changes.
Having announced its Spring Cleaning update just a few weeks ago, Google Photos appears to be undoing some of the promised changes in response to negative user feedback. According to a report in 9to5Google, big changes to the Library tab have now been delayed with some of those who had already received the new design being reverted automatically to the previous version.
For those that missed it, the new Library design introduced a ‘more sortable’ library tab that presents a grid of your most recently-used albums, which can then be filtered according to their type and then sorted.
Google Photos has removed its newly redesigned library interface.
The idea is to let you jump to different types of albums, such as favorites or on-device folders, and find your content more quickly. However, some users appear to have found the new layout more difficult to use, prompting Google to temporarily undo the design update while further changes are considered.
Google’s Spring clean was intended to simplify the library interface but has, unfortunately, made some tasks harder to accomplish. For example, some important tools such as ‘Utilities’ and ‘Trash’ disappeared from their prominent position at the top of the screen and could be found only after scrolling to the bottom of the new grid of recently-used albums.
Any significant change to a familiar interface, however well-intended, is likely to catch people out, especially those less familiar with tech who rely on consistency or even written notes to achieve simple tasks. If a button isn’t on the screen where it used to be, scrolling to find it isn’t necessarily an obvious response.
It’s good to see Google making consistent efforts to improve Google Photos and perhaps even better to see the company willing to roll back changes that haven’t been as well-received as it had hoped.
Follow @paul_monckton on Instagram
