Google Photos just got a useful editing feature that should've existed since the beginning

Whether you're an iOS or Android user, Google Photos is an excellent photo storage and sharing service, with features such as Magic Editor and Ask Photos. However, one very basic capability was missing until this week: the option to flip photos.

On Wednesday, Google shared that users can now flip or mirror their photos from the Google Photos app. Although that may sound like a fundamental feature, the previous edit functions only allowed users to crop, rotate, or adjust a picture's aspect ratio before. You couldn't actually flip an image within the app.

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To access the new feature, you can open the Google Photos app, tap Edit, Crop, and then the flip icon to mirror your photo. There is one catch: the feature is only available in the Google Photos for Android app. Luckily for iOS users, the native Photos app includes a flip button, which you can use to adjust your photo before you upload it to your Google Photos library. 

Helpful instances for mirroring an image include adding balance and symmetry in photos or correcting the orientation of subjects. Even if you can't think of a use case now, it is nice to have the option available.

However, a more exciting feature in Google Photos is the "Ask Photos" feature. By leveraging AI, users can ask the Gemini to find a photo, instead of searching through thousands of images themselves. Through this feature, Gemini can also help provide context about your photos, such as telling you the name of what you ate in a photo.

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During the initial demo of the feature at Google I/O last year, instead of typing in the keyword "license plate" and scrolling through all of the photos themselves, users could ask, "What is my license plate number?" and Gemini would pull the number for them.

The "Ask Photos" feature is strictly experimental for now and is available to select US users. If interested, you can join the waitlist by going to the Google Photos page, scrolling down to the Ask Photos section, entering your Gmail address, and clicking the "Join the waitlist" button.