The recent Google Photos for Android update has improved tactile feedback from the media library’s scrollbar. As per Android Police , the feature has been available for a few years for the iOS version of the app.
The novelty will be most noticeable on phones with high-quality vibration engines, such as the Google Pixel line and models from Oppo , OnePlus and Xiaomi . That way, not all users will be able to experience the functionality.
New feature facilitates browsing by periods in Google Photos.Source: Antonio Villas-Boas/Business Insider
According to Reddit users , tactile feedback from Google Photos has expanded the usability of the side scrollbar. In this way, you can quickly access specific months or years in the cloud library.
With the new functionality, each click on the screen is associated with a certain weight. This makes it easy to find out how far the person has moved forward or backward in the timeline while searching in the app.
For users with a huge library of files, tactile feedback makes it simple to filter and sort photos and videos. Therefore, the functionality brings several gains to users.
Feature available from versions 5.49 onwards
Google Photos’ tactile feedback must have been released unobtrusively at some point between versions 5.46 and 5.49 of the app. For example, some devices received the update from version 5.49.0.381968315.
Again, it’s important to mention that this experience will depend on the user’s device . Models that do not have a good vibration motor are unlikely to provide a satisfactory response to the feature.