Google shared that they were working on adding stabilization last summer, but now the feature has officially arrived inside the app. After opening a video, tapping on the pen icon brings up editing options — a quick tap of “stabilize” starts the process, which can take some time depending on the size of the video file.
As an edit after the fact, the stabilization is electronic, not optical, which means the system is cropping the footage to stabilize each frame, but it may help salvage some shaky shots. Early users are reporting better results with occasional artifacts but not comparable with shooting the footage with a gimbal in the first place.
Along with the stabilization, the latest version of the app includes new smart filters along with a “Deep Blue” slider that helps enhance the color of the water and sky. The app’s automated movies built from photos also see a number of new options.
The stabilization joins a number of other editing tools inside Google Photos, including filters and contrast and color tweaking. The app also turns photos into movies as well as crafting collages, animations, and panoramas from still photos.
The editing features join one of the app’s biggest assets, free unlimited photo storage. Auto-tagging and object recognition software also makes photos searchable without manually adding tags, while automated albums assemble photos from one event into one place.
While a new Google Photos update rolled out to iOS on Monday, video editing options still only list rotations currently. The App Store only lists performance improvements as adjustments to the latest version.
Google Photos is a free download from both Google Play and the App Store.
