While you might not be using Microsoft’s in-box Windows photo app, the company continues to tweak it to make it more appealing and just add support for Image Search powered by Bing.
In a new update to Microsoft Photos, the new imaging experience on Beta and Release Preview channels for Insiders now adds the ability to sync and view iCloud photos for users.
- To access your iCloud photos, go to the iCloud Photos pivot in the Photos app, install the latest iCloud for Windows app from Microsoft Store, sign in with your Apple ID, and choose to sync your iCloud photos. Within minutes, you will see all your iCloud photo content starting to appear automatically in the Photos app.
In addition, the Microsoft Photos app also bring more Windows 11 aesthetic features back to Windows 10 users with the expansion of the Windows App SDK and WinU13 for Windows 10.
Back in April, Microsoft updated the Windows 11 Photos app with some UI tweaks that it’s now backporting to Windows 10 users that includes the updated navigation panel in the Gallery that allows users to quickly sort through PC, iCloud, and OneDrive photo folders.
Microsoft also shoved Bing into the Photos apps in this release preview. Before you you give yourself whiplash rolling your eyes, just be glad it wasn’t imbued with AI. Microsoft’s new Visual Search with Bing is shaping up to be functionally more relevant than the pre-generative text-to-image AI tools Microsoft is stashing in many of its Windows 11 apps.
The new Visual Search with Bing “will open the search results in Bing including similar images, related products, and other related content.” Currently, the action opens up a webpage with similar images, so it’s unclear how Microsoft is managing your personal content alongside that of the web, and it’s also yet another instance where the company can streamline the experience by bundling it into the app users are currently in.
Lastly, there are customary fixes and minor improvements the Windows team attaches to address the things they previously broke that includes:
- We added an option to run the Photos app in the background with minimal processes, to improve the app startup speed. If you do not want Photos running in the background, you can turn off the Performance option under Settings.
- You can now quickly edit an image in File Explorer or on the desktop, by right-clicking on the image and selecting the Edit in Photos This will open the Photo Editor where you can crop, rotate, or mark up the image, as well as applying adjustments and AI-powered edits.
The update is rolling out currently, check the Microsoft Store to update your Photos app if your either the Beta or Release Preview Insider channels.
