The Pixel 8 series brings some big improvements to Google’s flagship series, and it’s also now bringing in awards, as the duo has now won the 2023 Phone of the Year award at MWC.
Each year at Mobile World Congress (MWC), the GSMA hosts the “Global Mobile Awards.” The event includes a series of awards for the mobile industry such as “Best Mobile Technology Breakthrough,” “Best Mobile Network Infrastructure,” and more. In the “Device” category, one of the biggest awards is given to “Best Smartphone.”
The Best Smartphone award combines outstanding performance, innovation and leadership as determined through assessment of smartphones on the market during the period January 2023to December 2023, by world leading independent analysts, journalists and influencers.
Candidates this year included the iPhone 15 Pro series, OnePlus Open, Samsung Galaxy S23 series, and Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5, as well as the Google Pixel 8 series.
And, as announced at the event, the Google Pixel 8 series took the crown and ended up being named the “Best Smartphone” of 2023 by the GSMA. Rick Osterloh posted about the win on Twitter/X this evening.
Notably, Apple’s iPhone 14 Pro took the title in 2023, with the iPhone 13 Pro Max winning the year prior. In 2021, the Galaxy S21 Ultra won, but this is the first time Google has taken the title. The Pixel 6 Pro was on the shortlist in 2021 while the Pixel 3’s Night Sight feature won a GSMA award for “Disruptive Device Innovation” in 2019.
Google reportedly hit a new milestone on the back of Pixel 8 this year, shipping 10 million total devices in 2023.
Thrilled about Pixel 8 winning another important Phone of the Year award at MWC! @madebygoogle thank you to the entire Pixel user community for helping us get there, and congratulations to our team for great progress! pic.twitter.com/zIN75YHSmS
iOS 17.4 is a massive new iOS update for iPhone users, and includes new features to support European Union regulations, which makes it possible for to use alternative app marketplaces. However, the recent changes aren’t just limited to those who fall under EU jurisdiction. iOS 17.4 has tons of new changes and features, like new emoji, new Apple Music and Apple Podcasts updates, an updated “Hello” screen, and much, much more.
Notable iOS 17.4 updates
Podcast transcription
My favorite iOS 17.4 change relates to the Podcast app. I appreciate it even more since I recently launched a brand new podcast called 9to5Mac Overtime with my colleague Fernando Silva. The Podcast app now has text transcriptions that work similarly to the lyrics view in Apple Music. As the hosts talk, you’ll see each word from the transcription highlighted, and the highlights will adjust in real-time based on playback speed.
Another nice thing about text transcription in Apple Podcasts is the ability to search for a term quickly and jump directly to a specific part of the show with just a tap. I’m impressed with the accuracy of podcast transcription, and I was surprised at how well it accommodated my Kentucky twang.
iOS 17.4 RC changes and features
Apple Cash virtual card numbers and Safari autofill
Apple Cash gets more valuable thanks to the new virtual card numbers that can be regenerated on the fly in iOS 17.4. These numbers let you use your Apple Cash balance at merchants that don’t use Apple Pay. It also includes the ability to autofill card numbers in Safari and will even reflect your Apple Cash balance on the autofill button so that you know if you’ll be able to cover the balance in advance.
Music recognition
Updated integrated Shazam music recognition can now add a song directly to your Apple Music library or a specific playlist. Music recognition will also let you add classical music songs to Apple Music Classical.
Stolen Device Protection update
Stolen Device Protection gains additional security in iOS 17.4 thanks to a new option that lets you enforce the 1-hour delay at all locations before you can access critical areas of your iPhone. In previous versions of iOS, the security delay was only enforced when not in a familiar location.
Battery Health
Apple updated battery health by decoupling Battery information from Charging Optimization. It also instituted a new, more straightforward Battery Health status, similar to what Mac users have. In addition, pertinent battery information like cycle count, manufacture date, and first usage date now reside directly within Settings → Battery → Battery Health.
Full list of what’s new in iOS 17.4
Updated “Hello” Screen
New emoji
18 new right-facing body emoji
City Digital Clock Widget
Apple Podcasts full episode text
Apple Podcasts transcripts
Podcast app Home tab replaces Listen Now
Music recognition update
Music app “Home” tab replaces “Listen Now”
Apple Music Classical Music Recognition
Updated Lock Screen song title animation
Siri announces messages in any supported language
Stolen Device Protection update
Battery Health decoupled from charging
Battery Health Status
Additional Battery data
Passkeys Access for Web Browsers
Apple Cash virtual card numbers
Apple Cash autofill in Safari
Updated dialer background for unknown calls
Quantum Computer Protection for iMessage
Support for game streaming apps
Updated TV app channel links
Updated “How to Watch” in TV app
Updated iCloud glyph in Files app
Updated App Store user settings
Other iOS 17.4 bug fixes
CarPlay Updates
Beats Solo 4 Headphones
iOS 17.4 isn’t all about EU regulatory changes, but there are noteworthy updates that all users, regardless of location, will benefit from. Highlighted a few in this post, but as you can see from the bullet point list above, there are tons of new changes and features in iOS 17.4, not to mention the various bug fixes and security updates.
iOS 17.4 RC was stable in my brief hands-on time with the release. This is likely the version that Apple will launch next week. We’ll know if next week’s release sports the same 21E217 build number.
It sounds less drastic than the visual changes seen in the iOS 6 to iOS 7 transition, though. He writes “the company is indeed working to update the design of iOS as early as this year, but I don’t believe it will be a total overhaul that mirrors visionOS”. While Gurman says we can expect to see changes in iOS 18 this summer, the work on macOS has only just started and won’t be ready until 2025 or 2026.
Since Apple Vision Pro operating system was first unveiled, many people have wondered whether Apple will update the design of its other operating systems to match the visionOS aesthetic of 3D buttons and and glassy background textures. This doesn’t necessarily hold, as the visionOS design is specific to a platform that revolves around passthrough video. Being able to see the context of the world around you ‘through’ the open app windows is a concept that doesn’t really apply to iOS.
However, it has been a while since we’ve seen major design changes come to the iPhone and iPad. A visual refresh of any kind would make for an exciting release, that is also set to include significant AI-powered features.
Indeed, Mark Gurman previously said that Apple sees iOS 18 as its “ambitious and compelling” with major new features and designs. The company will officially unveil its next-generation operating systems at the annual WWDC conference in June. iOS 18 will be in beta over the summer and release for everyone in September, assuming Apple follows its usual traditions.
With the latest beta updates to Android 14, Google seems to have drastically sped up how fast Pixel devices can install an OTA update. Now, we’re getting a closer look at how that’s been accomplished.
First spotted with Android 14’s QPR2 Beta 1 update, the “Seamless Updates” feature has gotten a whole lot faster on Pixel phones.
Where Google’s updates used to take upwards of 20-40 minutes to install a simple OTA, the new process could be as quick as 10-15 minutes, perhaps even less. It’s extremely impressive and would make anyone wonder how Google pulled it off.
On Twitter/X, APKMirror founder, Artem Russakovskii, discusses a few main points of improvement that seem to be responsible for faster seamless updates. Russakovskii cites “Google’s tests” and Google’s David Anderson (a software engineer working at the company since 2018), but Google itself doesn’t seem to have publically shared this data.
That starts with compression operations, which Android is now parallelizing for a speed boost of 26% in Google’s own tests, Russakovskii explains. OTA updates on Android require the compression of thousands of “small blocks” of data, so putting those operations in parallel certainly speeds things up.
Related to that, Android is now batching operations for those same blocks. Where the OS previously would make 200 separate writes of 4KB files, it now makes a single write of one 800KB file. Google apparently found a 24% reduction in install time with this method.
Finally, the biggest improvement comes in newer Pixels switching from the GZ compression method to the LZ4 method. Google describes LZ4 as “extremely fast compression,” and it certainly shows here.
This apparently results in a 50% reduction in install time but only applies to specific devices. Pixel 7, Pixel 7 Pro, Pixel 7a, Pixel Tablet, Pixel Fold, Pixel 8, and Pixel 8 Pro are the only devices eligible for this new compression method, as older Pixels will stick with the slower GZ method. It’s unclear why this is the case, but it could have something to do with the chip. Mishaal Rahman highlighted on Twitter/X that, when installing Android 14 QPR2 Beta 1, Pixel 8 Pro was taking advantage of Tensor G3’s mid-cores to speed things along, and Google specifically notes that LZ4’s faster compression is “scalable with multi-cores CPU.”.
Google is, according to Russakovskii, changing its guidance for other Android OEMs with this new method in mind, so there’s a chance we could see similar improvements outside of Pixel in the future.
3. Google switched the Pixels (I'm getting clarification on exactly which, but at least P7) to use LZ4 compression instead of GZ. This resulted in a 50% (!!) decrease in install time.
All of these combined take a ~25 min install time down to around 6 minutes.
In addition to new features like the ability to log and access Health data with Siri, this week’s watchOS 10.2 update also makes it easier to switch watch faces on your Apple Watch. Here’s how to enable the option to swipe between Apple Watch faces with watchOS 10.2.
What’s new in watchOS 10.2 is the ability to swipe left or right on watch faces to easily switch between different configurations. Prior to this week’s update, watchOS 10 required that users long-press on their watch faces, and then swipe left or right.
Long-time Apple Watch users may remember that the ability to swipe left and right to switch watch faces isn’t actually new. The feature was available for years, but Apple removed it with watchOS 10’s release in September. This led to an influx of complaints from Apple Watch users, and Apple has now reversed its decision.
Still, the default behavior in watchOS 10.2 requires the long-press gesture. To enable the ability to swipe without long-pressing first, follow these steps:
Open the Settings app on your Apple Watch.
Scroll down and choose “Clock”
Toggle on the “Swipe to Switch Face” setting
“Switch between your watch faces by swiping left or right from the edge of the screen,” Apple explains.
watchOS 10.2 beta 3 brings back gesture to swipe between watch faces
Apple has made many changes to the Apple Watch operating system interface with watchOS 10. Among these changes, watchOS 10 no longer lets users quickly swipe between different watch faces, frustrating some users. Luckily, this gesture is back with the latest beta of watchOS 10.2.
Swipe to switch Apple Watch faces with watchOS 10.2
As noted by Aaron on X (formerly Twitter), watchOS 10.2 beta 3, released earlier this week to developers and public beta testers, brings back the option to swipe on the Apple Watch screen to switch between watch faces. In previous versions, changing the watch face requires pressing the screen for a second and then scrolling through the list using the Digital Crown.
watchOS 10.2 beta 3 adds back the feature that allows you to swipe between watch faces!
I was upset that Apple had removed this gesture – I even filled out a radar during the first watchOS 10 betas, and the company told me this was an intentional change. However, it seems that more users missed this gesture on the Apple Watch.
But there are a few things to keep in mind. At least in this beta, the gesture is not enabled by default. Instead, it requires you to enable it manually in the Clock settings. The toggle is also only available on the Apple Watch – you can’t find it using the Watch app on the iPhone. At least it’s back and working like it used to.
The current version, watchOS 10.1, was released last month and introduced NameDrop, which lets users share their contact details with other people simply by holding their Apple Watch near another Apple Watch or iPhone. watchOS 10.1 also enables the Double Tap gesture for the latest Apple Watch models.
However, the watchOS 10.2 update comes along with iOS 17.2, which brings some nice improvements for iPhone users.
iOS 17.2 includes Apple’s new Journal app, first announced at WWDC. There’s also support for collaborative playlists in Apple Music, changes to Tapback reactions, and new widgets for Clock and Weather. The update also enables recording Spatial Videos for Apple Vision Pro using iPhone 15 Pro.
Apple is expected to release iOS 17.2 and watchOS 10.2 to the public by the end of the year.
For years, it’s been possible to share a playlist you’ve made on Apple Music with others. However, a new feature allows for shared, editable playlists in iOS 17.2. Here’s how to use Apple Music collaborative playlists.
Two new features come to Apple Music with iOS 17.2 (currently in beta) – collaborative playlists and a new automatic “Favorites” playlist.
To find the latter, you can head to Library > Playlists in Apple Music and swipe down to find the new auto-generated Favorites playlist.
While Spotify has often led Apple Music in terms of social features, it’s great to see collaborative playlists arrive with iOS 17.2, let’s dig into how they work.
How to use Apple Music collaborative playlists
iOS 17.2 is available now in beta – read more on how to install it for free on your device
Running the iOS 17.2 beta, open Apple Music on iPhone or iPad
Choose the Library tab at the bottom, then tap Playlists
Select a playlist that you’ve created (or create a new one – this does not work for now with Apple Music’s playlists that you’ve saved)
Tap the … icon in the top right corner
Now choose Collaborate (second from the top)
You can choose if collaborators need to be approved or not
Tap Start Collaboration to invite people
You can head back to the playlist and tap the … icon to get the Manage Collaboration option
Here’s how the process looks to use Apple Music collaborative playlists on iPhone:
Now you’ll see the new Collaborate option. Apple notes anyone you share a collaborative playlist link with will be able to edit and reorder songs and change the name and photo of the playlist.
How Google Messages will let you edit recent sends
While we wait for a slew of existing features to roll out, Google Messages is working on the ability to edit what you’ve recently sent.
It’s a staple of modern messaging services at this point. Long-press on a message you sent and a new “Edit” pencil icon — as shown by AssembleDebug — will appear in the toolbar at the top next to copy, delete, star, and overflow. Editing is available to messages sent in the last 30 minutes.
This will place that message in the compose field for you to edit, with a checkmark in place of the send button.
Strings in the latest beta today (version 20240213_01_RC00) indicate that Google will note the “Original message” in addition to what it was “Edited to”:
<string name=”edited_message_title”>”Edited to: “</string>
From what was enabled by AssembleDebug today, something you’ve edited is sent as a new message for those that don’t have the feature active. What could be happening behind-the-scenes is that the receiving Google Messages client is more or less interpreting that edit and seamlessly displaying it to the recipient. This would be similar to how emoji reactions work today with the iPhone.
Meanwhile, this beta also reveals that the double tap gesture will also work to remove a reaction.
Google Messages might be switching to double tap to react
Following the wide rollout of Photomoji a few weeks ago, Google Messages is readying a small change wherein you double tap to react.
About APK Insight: In this “APK Insight” post, we’ve decompiled the latest version of an application that Google uploaded to the Play Store. When we decompile these files (called APKs, in the case of Android apps), we’re able to see various lines of code within that hint at possible future features. Keep in mind that Google may or may not ever ship these features, and our interpretation of what they are may be imperfect. We’ll try to enable those that are closer to being finished, however, to show you how they’ll look in case that they do ship. With that in mind, read on.
Now, you long-press on a text or chat to get the tray of emoji and Photomoji options. The latest Google Messages beta (version 20240208_00_RC00) adds a promo string detailing how double_tap_to_react is coming. This change is not yet live.
It remains to be seen whether you still press and hold to access copy, delete, star, share, forward, and view details from the top toolbar. Divorcing how you react in Google Messages and that menu makes some sense. That said, I’m not sure there will be much of a time savings.
Meanwhile, this beta release renames various Bard strings to Gemini now that the rebrand is live. It would suggest Google is proceeding with this one-to-one chatbot inside Messages.
Google Messages rolls out text field redesign with shortcuts bar [U]
2023 Google Messages is rolling out a redesign of the compose text field that features a dedicated shortcuts bar.
Update 1/30: Over the past few days, this redesign has widely rolled out to the stable channel (version 20240116_01_RC04).
Update 1/27/24: The redesigned RCS and Text message field is starting to appear for those not enrolled in the Google Messages beta.
Compared to the other features announced in late November, Google never detailed this change. At the start of this month, Photomoji and Magic Compose exited beta. (Animated emoji is also widely available.) Other capabilities like Custom Bubbles, Voice Moods with a redesigned recorder, and Profiles are not widely available yet.
Despite the standalone button, the redesigned voice recorder with Voice Moods is not yet rolled out for most users. The same can be said of Custom Bubbles and Profiles.
Original 12/2: Historically, the RCS/Text message field takes up the right two-thirds of your screen and expands to hide the “plus,” gallery, and Magic Compose buttons as you enter more text. At the other end, you get emoji and voice memo shortcuts.
I don’t like it. I like the text box more to the right with the icons on the left. I don’t have this change yet and I’m not looking forward to to. Also, the voice recording button doesn’t work for me and if I tap it then the other buttons on the left like emoji and add picture stop working. It took me a while to figure out that’s why the other buttons weren’t working. I have to close and reopen the keyboard to fix it.
Google Messages is now switching to a left-aligned text field with an emoji button up first. You then get Magic Compose, gallery (which has a new icon), and the plus, which is now on the opposite end. The voice recorder, which is getting thoroughly revamped with Moods, is now its own separate button outside the pill.
As some have pointed out, it’s somewhat odd that the text field is aligned to the left when the messages you send continue to appear at the right.
Meanwhile, when you start typing, there’s a new UI that’s split into two lines. The text field is at the top, while a bar keeps all the shortcuts on the same strip. This makes for a slightly more complex/heavy interface that might take some time to adjust to.
Some users in the Google Messages beta are already seeing this text field redesign with the dedicated bar, but it is not yet widely rolled out, which is also the case with the other functionality Google announced last November 2023.
Amid all the OpenAI drama, the team has still been doing some work, it seems! The company’s newly-reinstated co-founder Greg Brockman has just tweeted that ChatGPT Voice is rolling out to everyone, not just paying subscribers …
OpenAI has announced that it is releasing a dedicated iPhone app for its ChatGPT service. The app, which is available via the App Store, gives users the ability to use ChatGPT through a native app on their iPhone. The app is free to download and includes no ads. It’s currently only available in the United States, but OpenAI says availability will expand “in the coming weeks” […]
The app will also sync your ChatGPT history across all your devices, including the web. It also includes support for Whisper, OpenAI’s open-source speech-recognition system. This integration with Whisper enables voice input for the ChatGPT app on iPhone. The ChatGPT app is also completely ad-free.
At that time, you could use voice to ask questions, though there wasn’t any real benefit in doing so over using the iPhone’s built-in keyboard dictation feature, and answers could only be displayed on-screen.
Shortcuts and Siri support was added in July.
ChatGPT Voice
Two-way voice interaction was later launched, but only for paying subscribers. The company now says it is available to all, with Brockman urging people to try it.
ChatGPT Voice rolled out for all free users. Give it a try — totally changes the ChatGPT experience.
You can choose between five different voices.
ChatGPT Voice rolled out for all free users. Give it a try — totally changes the ChatGPT experience: https://t.co/DgzqLlDNYF
I found I had to delete the app and then re-install it from the App Store to get the update. Please be careful if you need to do the same, as there are many scam apps which come up in a search for ChatGPT.
It’s also worth noting that demand for the feature is apparently extremely high, as I’ve experienced long delays at the ‘connecting’ stage, and some failures.
As the Digital Markets Act antitrust law passed in the European Union, Apple has until March 2024 to let users in Europe install iOS apps outside the App Store. Although Apple has yet to say a word about how it will do this, regulators around the world have also been considering applying the same demands to the company – and Japan could be the next country to do so.
Japan wants to force Apple to allow sideloading on iOS
According to a report in Nikkei Asia on Tuesday, the Japanese regulator is preparing antitrust legislation that will require big tech companies like Apple and Google to allow third-party app stores, as well as alternative payment methods for any apps. In other words, forcing Apple to allow sideloading in iOS.
The legislation is expected to be sent to parliament next year and focuses on four areas: app stores and payments, search, browsers, and operating systems. If approved, the Japan Fair Trade Commission will be able to impose fines on companies that violate the new legislation. More details are expected to be revealed by spring 2024.
In 2020, the Japanese government began investigating Google, Apple, Amazon, and Facebook over antitrust concerns. In the same year, many Japanese developers expressed dissatisfaction with the App Store’s business model. In 2023, the Japanese regulator completed its study and concluded that the mobile app market is dominated by Apple and Google.
According to the local government, the new legislation would allow Japanese companies to have their own app stores on platforms like iOS and Android. It would also allow developers to opt for payment systems from local fintechs with lower fees.
Apple will soon have to comply with the EU’s DMA
The new Japanese antitrust legislation is very similar to the European Union’s Digital Markets Act in many ways. The DMA requires Apple to allow developers to distribute their iOS apps outside the App Store. Third-party apps will also be allowed to use third-party payment platforms for in-app purchases.
According to many reports, Apple has been working under the hood to enable sideloading in iOS in regions where the company is forced to do so. Unsurprisingly, the company has no plans to make sideloading available to everyone.
A few months ago, Apple vice president of software engineering Craig Federighi acknowledged that Apple will have to comply with European Union legislation. However, on other occasions, Federighi and other Apple executives have taken a stand against sideloading, arguing that distributing apps outside the app store would be dangerous for users.
With Android 14, developers can build share sheets with app-specific actions, and Google Photos is now replacing its custom implementation with a native one.
When sharing an image in Google Photos, a “Sharing image” sheet slides up the screen. “Modify” in the top-right corner lets you select more images to share using a grid.
The first section shows a preview of the selected picture(s) with the pencil icon in the corner launching the Markup tool to quickly crop, add text, draw, and highlight. The carousel below it links to various Google Photos actions, which is what Android 14 makes possible: Create Link, Send in Photos, Add to album, and Create album.
Direct Share targets — which use more signals from apps to improve relevance — appear next, along with frequently used apps. Nearby Share might appear in the first position. Scrolling up takes you to the full grid.
We’re seeing this new share sheet rolled out with version 5.65 of Google Photos today on Android 14 Pixel phones. It’s not yet appearing on large-screen (Pixel Tablet) devices that we checked this afternoon. The share sheet will presumably remain unchanged on Android 13 and earlier.
This follows Chrome, which was a big holdout, also dropping its custom implementation for Android 14 in August.
Google Photos redesign with new Memories feed rolls out
Last August 2023, Google announced a redesign to Photos that revamps the Memories feature, tweaks the bottom bar, and makes other changes. It’s now seeing wider availability in the US.
This redesign starts by moving the “Google Photos” wordmark to the left, while the Print store, Sharing, and your account avatar are at the right.
Sharing in the bottom bar makes way for “Memories,” with Library next and Search being the final tab. (This will certainly disrupt muscle memory.) A similar reorganization is live on tablets, while the “Utilities” tab has been removed from the navigation rail.
The most significant change is the Memories feed with its scrapbook-like timeline — which is not particularly well-optimized for tablets, as padding is just applied to the left and right — that uses AI for automatic curation and organization. Google aims to let you “easily relive, customize and share your most memorable trips, celebrations and daily moments with your loved ones.”
Users can create memories, which are pseudo albums from an editing and sharing perspective, from a rather tiny FAB (floating action button) that only appears when you scroll down. Meanwhile, generative AI is used to offer “customized title suggestions.” “Help me title” slides up a sheet that lets you add a “hint” to guide the generation.
Google started rolling this out in mid-August, but the revamp is only now seeing wide availability with version 6.54. If it’s not yet live on your device, try using the “Force stop” option on Google Photos from App info. It does not appear to be live on iOS yet.
This Google Photos redesign and Memories feed is coming first to the US and is set for global availability in the “coming months.”
Google Photos gets updated upload UI on the web
A small tweak to the Google Photos website in recent days modernizes the interface for uploading images and videos.
Like before, you can start uploading by dragging files into the window, or by tapping “Upload” in the top-right corner and selecting “Computer” to get a system file picker. Google Drive (pre-Workspace logo) is also still listed, but that’s now joined by “Add from other places,” which can also be found in the mobile app:
Transfer from photo collections: Facebook, iCloud
Transfer from photography services: Pixieset, Pic-Time, image.canon
Digitize physical photos: Photomyne, Capture, CVS
Back up from your computer: Google Drive for desktop
Scan photos with your phone: PhotoScan
The more notable change today is to the bottom-left corner progress UI. When uploading, you’ll get an estimate of how much longer it will take with a blue “Stop” button to end the process. “Show more” will expand this UI to provide a list of what’s in the queue.
Once complete, you just get “Add to album” as the available action, with “Saved album” removed. Overall, the UI is smaller than before.
Meanwhile, the redesigned Google Photos app on Android and iOS has yet to widely launch.
Google Photos Locked Folder sync starts rolling out
Announced at the end of August 2023, the ability to sync the Google Photos Locked Folder across devices signed in to your Google Account is rolling out more widely.
As of this morning, we’re seeing a prompt to “Back up Locked Folder” at the top of Google Photos. (Try Force stop from App info if it doesn’t appear, but this is not fully launched yet.) That takes you to a screen that explains how “Backing up Locked Folder keeps your hidden photos & videos safe when you change devices or delete the app.”
You have the option to “Turn on backup” or “Do not back up,” which keeps the feature unchanged from today. The Locked Folder grid will show a cloud icon in the top-right corner. That menu will let you disable sync at any time.
After turning it on, everything will start uploading to the cloud. Locked Folder can be enabled on a per-device basis. In this case, it appears that previously synced photos will appear on a disabled device, but any additions won’t. A cloud icon appears in the bottom-right corner of image previews in those cases.
Meanwhile, “Locked Folder” appears in the photos.google.com sidebar just above “Trash.” To access, you will have to sign in to your account, including 2-Step Verification (2FA).
This is getting a wider rollout today — photos.google.com/lockedfolder — but it’s not yet fully available. We’re also now seeing Locked Folder with sync in Google Photos for iOS today. Meanwhile, the broader bottom bar redesign and AI-powered Memories is not yet seeing broad availability.