The iOS Google Photos app can now do what some iPhones can't

OK, Google! Let's depth edit!
 By 
Rachel Kraus
 on 
Original image replaced with Mashable logo
Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

Photo shots fired!

Google announced an update to its Photos app for iOS on Monday. Now, iPhone users can edit the background blur and focus of portrait mode images within the Google Photos iOS app. Customized portraits, here you come!

The new capability is a boon for iPhone users without the latest models. Users who have anything but an iPhone with an "X" in its name now have a great reason to install a Google app on their iPhone.

See, even though iPhone users have been able to take portrait mode shots since the 7 came out, iPhone 8 and 8 Plus models and below don't include depth editing features in the iOS Photos app. Depth editing is actually a fairly recent feature for iPhones, and is only available on iPhone X and above.

The fact that iPhone 7 or 8 users can depth edit their photos — just not within an Apple product — is not the greatest look, especially when it is Apple rival Google that's offering the technological upgrade.

Google has already made blur and focus editing for portraits available on Pixel 2 and 3, and on some Moto phones, according to Engadget.

So the choice is yours, photo-edit-loving iPhone users: pay between $750 - $1,499 to get a new iPhone capability of depth editing.

Or, download an app.

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Rachel Kraus

Rachel Kraus is a Mashable Tech Reporter specializing in health and wellness. She is an LA native, NYU j-school graduate, and writes cultural commentary across the internetz.

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