Google Photos takes on CapCut with 5 handy new video-editing tools, including a time-saving template feature

• Google Photos has unveiled a slew of upgrades for its video-editing software, drawing inspiration from the likes of CapCut
• You can now select from a range of video templates to create a hassle-free short-form video, and there's even the option to add music and text
• Google has also announce that its revamped video editor has become the default editing software on Android

Google Photos is going through yet another round of changes, and the photo service has started rolling out big upgrades to its video editing tool, adopting similar features to CapCut – one of our best video editing apps.

Short-form video-editing apps are more popular than ever in an age of ubiquitous TikToks and Instagram Reels, and now Google Photos has decided to tap into this market. The company announced in a blog post that "creating and editing your videos is easier than ever with new features you've been asking for", and says the updates are available for some users now.

With the exception of one new feature, all of the new Google Photos upgrades are available on both Android and iOS devices – so what’s new?

Templates, a new timeline, and more

For starters, Google Photos now finally has templates, making it much faster to create a video featuring different clips – perfect for video-editing novices. Each template comes with its own music, text, and cuts that are synced to the beat of the soundtrack.

All you have to do is select the footage from your Google Photos gallery you want to use in your chosen template, and a TikTok-worthy highlight reel will be created in seconds. This tool is only available on Android at the moment, but iOS users aren’t missing out on other exciting new updates.

The Google Photos video editor itself also gets a major overhaul, which the company says makes it more user-friendly for all, but the biggest upgrade is the new ‘universal timeline’. Similar to features in the likes of CapCut, this new editing view allows you to see all the clips and photos you’ve added to a video in one place, where you can easily trim individual clips and drag to rearrange them – nice and simple.

Search for the perfect soundtrack, and add funky text

You could create the best short-form video ever, but it doesn’t truly come to life until you layer a catchy tune over it, and this is another handy upgrade from Google Photos. Soundtracks are now available in the redesigned video editor, and you can now search Google Photos’ music library to find a song that perfectly matches the content of your highlight reel.

As well as adding music, there’s a new custom text option which you can overlay on your highlight reels. You can choose from an extensive range of fonts, colors, and text backgrounds to make your final video edit pop.

Rounding things off, Google unveiled that its redesigned video editor has now become the default editing software on Android for when you want to edit individual videos. All you have to do is open a video from your gallery and select the Edit button to start, and you even have the option to add text and music to individual videos just like highlight reels.

As mentioned, all of these features are currently rolling out on Android, and most of them on iOS, and if you haven’t got access just yet don’t worry – Google says the new video-editing tools will land soon, so you’ll be able to put your creative skills to good use.

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