Google Photos Archive Rolling Out; Hangouts for iOS Gets CallKit Support, and More

Google is bringing new features to its major apps - Photos, Hangouts, and a recent feature called 'Family Group'. Starting with Google Photos, the company is now rolling out the Archive feature to all the users, first announced at I/O 2017. Google Photos' Archive feature will use machine learning to suggest photos that you won't prefer to see in the main library. Separately, Google Hangouts for iOS has been updated with CallKit support, making Hangout calls seem like regular ones. Google has also added support Google Calendar support to Family Group.

The Google Photos was recently updated with a new feature called 'Archive' that allows you to store all the not-so-important photographs and images like screenshots, scans of receipts, et al. There is a wider rollout and a new addition though in the app that will make the assortment easier. With the help of machine learning, the Assistant tab in the Photos app will identify photographs and suggest you to move them to Archive. You can anytime choose photos manually to archive, which will be searchable across albums.

Coming to Google Hangouts, the iOS users will now be able to place and receive Hangouts calls similar to the cellular ones. Arriving with the version 16.0.0, the feature can be turned on or off by going to Settings > Answer on lock screen. The recipient will see a VoIP mark below the contact's name to distinguish it as a Hangouts call, and not the cellular one. This will be possible with the help of Apple's recent CallKit framework that allows third-party apps to be seamlessly integrated with iOS cellular call feature. You can head to the App Store and download the latest version right away.

Finally, Google recently introduced Family Groups feature to club different family-sharing apps to be used within a family. Apps like YouTube TV, Photos, and Keep already had a support for family-sharing and now it has rolled out for Google Calendar as well. Currently available for some users, this feature will start appearing for the entire family group in Google Calendar wherein all the events and schedules can be viewed and managed. Family group members can rename the calendar and modify events, however, non-family members cannot become the part of the group. The feature was spotted by Android Police and it will additionally save you from duplicate events when an event is shared between two family members.