Google Photos Update: AirPlay Functionality Lets Users Stream Content On Apple TV

Google is rolling out a new version of its Google Photos app on iTunes and Apple’s App Store. The update adds support for Apple’s wireless streaming service called AirPlay. Now users can view photos and videos on their Apple TV.

On Monday, the Mountain View giant released Google Photos version 2.14.0 for the iPhone and iPad. The update has a file size of 165MB, and it is only compatible with iOS 9.0 and newer versions of Apple’s mobile operating system.

Based on its release notes, the new update adds AirPlay functionality to Google Photos, and it also comes with performance improvements. Before the launch of this update, owners of iOS devices had to use third-party solutions just to stream or view their pictures and video content on TV screens. Now they can view content on an Apple TV directly from the app.

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Using AirPlay on the Google Photos app is the same as how iOS devices mirrors content to the Cupertino giant’s television screen. The handset or the tablet should be connected to the same WiFi network as the Apple TV. Users should then enable the option that would allow them to view content on the TV screen via AirPlay.

The introduction of AirPlay to Google Photos comes nearly two years since the app was launched, according to AppleInsider. It wasn’t clear what took the tech giant so long to introduce support for the service in its app. Nonetheless, it’s good that it’s here now considering that Google Photos is still considered as the more superior photo sharing and storage service than Apple’s Photos app.

Google has been hard at work in improving and developing its Google Photos app since its official launch in May 2015. The app now boasts of a range of features like video stabilization, content-aware filters, visual search and many others.