Microsoft's New Photos App Combines Your PC, OneDrive and iCloud Galleries

Microsoft has redesigned its Photos app for Windows 11, reviewing the image editor and viewer, and bringing photos and videos from your PC, OneDrive and iCloud together in a single space. The new combined gallery experience aims to make it easier to manage and view your photos without switching between apps or devices, while also improving […]

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Link your image libraries into an easy-to-browse gallery. Image: Microsoft

A news writer focused on creative industries, computing and internet culture. Jess started her career at TechRadar covering hardware news and reviews.

Microsoft has redesigned its Photos app for Windows 11, overhauling the image editor and viewer and combining photos and videos from your PC, OneDrive, and iCloud into a single space. The new hybrid Gallery experience aims to manage and view your photos without jumping between apps or devices, while improving app launch and Photos navigation functionality.

To combine your galleries in the Windows 11 Photos app, you'll need to turn on camera backups in the OneDrive mobile app on iOS or Android and follow Apple's guide to setting up iCloud for Windows. Once integrated into the Windows 11 Photos app, you can browse by date, organize and share albums, search for specific photos by description or the people featured in them, and more. You can browse files online or offline, and Microsoft says photos will be available on your device "even when you're not connected."

According to Microsoft, the new Photos editor has been "rebuilt from the ground up," launching 25.percent faster and sorting tools into four categories: Crop, Enhance, Repair, and Stylize. The Photos app now preserves HDR quality during editing processes, allowing you to edit and save HEIC and WebP images without changing their original format.

Here's a sample of the tools you'll find in the new Crop category. Image: Microsoft

Finally, according to Microsoft, the viewer has been given a cleaner layout and performance improvements, launching 15 percent faster and opening HEIC images up to 30 percent faster. Media type support has been extended to SVG files as well. These new Photos experiences are rolling out today as an update to Windows Insiders in Windows 11, and Microsoft expects to roll out to all Windows 11 users later this year.

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