Google Now Includes Google+ Photos In Drive

drive_photos_nexus6_animated2Google has begun showing photos uploaded via Google+ in Google Drive, where they can be managed via a new Google Photos tab, or stored in folders alongside other kinds of files easily. The inclusion of Photos and Videos in Drive is one sign that Google is moving to part out the Google+ social network into its key components, and is good news for mobile photographers.

Google+ has one of the best automatic Photos tools in the business, thanks to its automatic enhancements of color balance and exposure, as well as other tweaks and organizational tools. The move to include your Google+ library in Drive likely helps make it much more accessible and useful for those who are already using Google+ as a backup destination for pics snapped on their mobile device. You can also now auto backup directly to Drive, bypassing the need to use Google+ for that at all.

Putting the Photos menu in Drive and populating it with Google+ images and videos means you won’t have to change your practices to take advantage of the switch, and the feature should already be available on Android, iOS and the web.