A Google Photos update brings image stabilisation to Apple's live photos

Google Photos for iOS is now getting the ability to stabilise live photos. Google also claims that the update would make live photos more “shareable.” Live photos were introduced by Apple last year with the iPhone 6s and the 6s Plus, but owing to the proprietary nature of the format, sharing those live photos was never easy. The Google Photos update skirts around the problem by converting live photos to .MOV files (which are compatible with an iPhone) and saving them in the photo library. It will also stabilise the clips. Converting to a .MOV format does make the videos more “shareable,” but MOV isn’t supported on all devices or websites. More importantly, it’s not supported on Android devices. VentureBeat reports that the update also includes more options for sorting photos inside albums by oldest, newest or most recent images. Apple’s upcoming iOS 10 update revamps Apple’s own Photos app and brings a tonne of new features to the mix. The ability to stabilise live photos isn’t new for the iPhone. Google announced this feature in their Motion Stills app for iOS in June this year. The Google Photos update doesn’t make the Motion Stills app obsolete; Google is updating it to allow users to place text on live photos.