Google Photos has a feature called 'highlight video', which lets you create short movies from photos easily. It is quite similar to the Movie Creation Tool which was present earlier and works in the same way. You can create memory movies from photos using the Google Photos app on your smartphone as well as on the web. The highlight video option even lets you add your own music to the video and edit the video after it is generated. Here is how you can try it out on your device now.

  1. Open the Google Photos app on your phone and tap on the '+' icon at the top.
  2. Then tap on 'Highlight video'.
  1. The app will show you a notification about the 'Highlight video' feature. Tap on 'Next' and then tap on 'Get started'.
  2. Now, you can type in the names of the people, places, events, etc. whose photos are present in your albums to include them in the movie. When you do so, the app will offer several suggestions. Tap on them to add them to your search. You can also combine multiple people or events. Alternatively, you can select the photos you want to use manually.
Note: You can even use keywords like 'birthday' or 'vacation' to quickly add all the photos from such events to the video that will be generated. This means you do not need to search for them manually as the application will do so automatically.
  1. Once you have included all the information you want, tap on the 'Preview' button on the top right.
  2. Wait for a few seconds and the app will show you the movie it has generated. You can watch it using the play button.
  1. You can also edit the generated video before saving it by using the options below the video. Tap on the rectangle with four dots to change the aspect ratio.
  2. Then choose the new ratio for the video from the list of options that appear on your screen.
  1. You can also tap on the musical note icon to add music to your video.
  2. You can either add your own music, choose a theme music, or remove any existing soundtrack from the video by tapping on the respective option.
  1. If you choose the 'My music' option, you can select music from your device. On the other hand, the 'Theme music' option will show you a list of themes from Google. Once you've selected one, tap on the 'Save' button to add it to your movie.
  2. You can also add more photos to the video if you want by tapping on the '+' button.
  1. The photos used in the video appear below the video. If you want, you can tap on one to remove it and you will see an entire section you can remove or edit.
  2. Then tap on the 'Remove' button. Alternatively, you can tap on the 'Change motion' button to change the animation for the section.
  1. By default, the 'Pan and zoom' option will be enabled but you can tap on the 'No motion' option to remove the animation from the video.
  2. Once you are done editing, tap on the 'Save' button to save the video.

Things to know

  • Up until very recently, Google Photos had a great Movie Creation Tool, which allowed you to use the photos in an album on the platform to create a short video. It even allowed you to use WebM files but this tool has been replaced with the new 'Highlight video' feature.
  • If you want to use the 'Highlight video' feature while using the web version of Google Photos, you will find it within the 'Utilities' option on the left. However, you can no longer create movies directly from albums on any platform.
  • Once you've created a movie, you will find it in the 'Videos' section of the Google Photos app. You can delete it from here if you want once it is downloaded to your device.
  • If you want to create movies using WebM files, you will have to use the web version of the Google Photos app.