GoKawiil
Tech News
Apple has released iOS 27 to all users, highlighting more than 30 specific speed improvements across the operating system. These range from photo loading and app launches up to 30% faster, to AirDrop transfers up to 80% faster, plus quicker performance in Safari, Mail, Music, Health, and HomeKit.
A longtime Immich user has switched to Noodle Gallery, an open-source fork of the self-hosted Google Photos alternative, after running into limits when trying to share photo libraries and metadata with family members. The new tool preserves core Immich functionality while adding features tailored to multi-user households. Migration is designed to be simple, letting existing Immich users swap container images in their Docker setup while keeping their existing database, photos and albums intact.
Samsung is rolling out a new option letting Gallery app users sync photos and videos directly to Google Photos, replacing the native Microsoft OneDrive integration that shuts down September 30. The feature requires a compatible Samsung phone running Android 13 or later and a personal (non-Workspace, non-supervised) Google account, and is rolling out gradually with availability varying by device, region and account type.
Samsung has started rolling out a Google Photos integration within its Gallery app, adding a new 'Sync photos and videos' option under settings that lets users automatically back up their photos and videos through Google's cloud service. The rollout follows Samsung's earlier confirmation that it was ending its OneDrive backup partnership with Microsoft in favor of a new deal with Google, and the feature is currently appearing for some users on Samsung Gallery version 15.9.01.7.
A writer tested AliveMoment, an image-to-video AI tool launched in August 2025 that animates and restores old photographs without requiring text prompts, using it on childhood pictures and a photo of her grandmother. The tool runs on a credit-based subscription and includes photo restoration to fix grainy or low-quality images before animating them. Results varied: one animation felt unsettling while another evoked genuine emotional warmth.
Apple's macOS 27 Golden Gate update skips a visual overhaul for Photos but packs in a new Tools pane with Apple Intelligence features, including an upgraded Clean Up tool, a generative Extend tool for expanding images, and a Spatial Reframing option that builds a 3D scene model to shift camera perspective. iCloud Shared Albums also gain full-resolution sharing across all photo and video formats and now let Android and Windows users contribute via iCloud.com.
Android Authority found new code in Google Photos version 7.93.0 that adds direct Copy and Download options to the app's QR code sharing screen for albums. Currently, the app only lets users take a screenshot of the generated code to share it, but this hidden feature would let them save or copy the code directly instead.
Instagram now allows users to promote posts they're tagged in—such as group photos or collaborations—directly onto their main profile grid, rather than leaving them buried in the separate Tagged tab. Users can add posts via DM notifications, the post's three-dot menu, or by pressing and holding items in the Tagged tab, and can remove them later without deleting the original post. Added posts appear in reverse-chronological order but can be manually reordered, building on Instagram's June feature allowing custom post arrangement.
Google is developing a new toggle within Google Photos that would let users display all photos and videos in their home feed at a consistent, identical thumbnail size. The feature appears to still be in development and has not yet rolled out broadly to users.
Google's storage warnings push many users toward paid upgrades, but much of the used space in Gmail, Drive, and Photos can be reclaimed by clearing out large attachments, duplicate files, and unnecessary backups. A few targeted cleanup steps can free up meaningful space across the shared 15GB storage pool in minutes.
Apple has introduced a Reference Image feature for the iPhone 18 Pro that generates a kind of digital negative alongside each photo taken. This reference file can later be used to confirm whether the original image has been altered or was AI-generated.
Apple unveiled Apple Reference Image at its Surprise and Shine event, a new iPhone 18 Pro feature designed to confirm whether a photo is unaltered. The camera captures signed sensor data that Apple's Private Cloud Compute converts into an unchangeable reference version stored in the Photos app, which can be compared against edited copies to spot manipulation. Apple is also opening APIs for third-party app integration and adopting the SynthID standard to flag AI-generated or altered images.