The latest build of Google Photos indicates that a photo archiving feature might be coming to the app in the near future, an APK teardown performed by Cody Toombs of Android Police suggests. The new code contained in the Google Photos version 2.10 references the option to archive photos on several occasions. Once archived, photos will be removed from the main interface, though users will still be able to access them through a separate section containing the entire archive, the code suggests. Furthermore, it seems that the archive section will be accessible from the navigation drawer of Google Photos. Users will be able to archive images from an overflow menu that will likely be accessible from both the image viewer interface and the multi-selection one. The code reveals that the same overflow menu will be used to revert the changes, i.e. remove the photos from the archive and return them to the main photo stream of Google Photos.
The current contents of the Google Photos build 2.10 indicate that the client-side portion of the feature is already complete. There’s no way of knowing whether developers already sorted their side of the equation but if they did, the feature could theoretically be made available through a server-side update without requiring users to download another app update from the Google Play Store. In related developments, the Mountain View-based tech giant recently introduced a number of minor Google Photos features through server-side updates. The company’s app now does a better job of handling RAW photos as it can not only open them but even detect them in its photo stream which wasn’t the case before. RAW photos shown in the main photo stream are labeled with a shutter icon located in the top-right corner of their thumbnails, as shown in the gallery below.
The second recent server-side addition to Google Photos is a set of bottom buttons for editing, sharing, and deleting images. Finally, the info section accessible by tapping the info icon above the aforementioned buttons now contains more information about the image you’re interested in.
