The latest update to Google Photos is rolling out and bringing a new local video caching feature so you don’t have to stream videos in your library. The update, version 3.4 for those keeping score at home, will cache a video after you have played it and, when you replay it, will use that local cached version of the video so you are not eating up your data plan to stream it from your online account.
The feature is purely aimed at saving mobile data, something that Google is continually working on across their apps as they try to expand them into parts of the world here mobile data is expensive.
This update to Google Photos also brings some other refinements and improvements under-the-hood. You won’t really find any new features in this update. This is pretty much a maintenance release but important to download once you get prompted to update with the OTA from the Play Store.
One thing to note on the new caching feature. Google has not provided any real details on this feature as far how long the cache lives or its size limit. There is also no way to clear it outside of doing a complete clearing of the cache in the app’s settings. This, for most users, isn’t a big deal frankly but for those of you who don’t like having big app caches on your phone, just be aware.
Google Photos is a free download in the Play Store. If you need support for the app, head over to the Google Photos forums where you will find Google Top Contributors (full disclosure: I’m one of them) to help you with your questions.
