Joe Maring / Android Authority
TL;DR Google is testing a “Copy” button in the share sheet that lets users copy and paste images directly into other apps without downloading them first.
The new sharing approach will avoid unwanted downloads by allowing users to paste full-resolution images with minimal compression directly into existing app messages.
Additional UI changes include an updated Album screen design using Material 3 Expressive’s connected buttons pattern and tweaks to the Updates section that showcase recently changed albums.
As great as Google Photos is, there are still a few rough edges. While the app is great for backing up your photos, it’s not very good at sharing a single image from your library with another app. Users can either download an image they want to share or share it with other apps via the share sheet.
The share sheet approach is flawed because it presents the image as a new message in chat apps, so you can’t use it as a reply to an existing message, leaving most people with no choice but to download the image and then attach it as a reply. This method is slow, inconvenient, and leaves behind a copy of the image in your downloads.
Google seems to have finally heard enough complaints about this limitation, as Google Photos will soon let you copy an image directly to your clipboard. We’ve also spotted other UI changes within Google Photos.
Google Photos’ new Copy button Google Photos v7.63.0.867680147 includes code that allows users to copy images in order to paste them into other apps. We managed to activate a “Copy” button in Google Photos’ share sheet to give you an early look:
AssembleDebug / Android Authority
While users still have to open the share sheet, the Copy button will allow them to copy the image and paste it into other apps via the universal system Paste option.
... continue reading