OneDrive Gets Photo Editing Features On The Web And Android

With Google's unpopular changes to its Photos storage policies, some people have been in search of a new home for their photos in the cloud. Although probably not a household name among regular consumers, Microsoft's OneDrive has long offered such an option. Like many cloud storage services that saw a golden opportunity in Google's change of direction, Microsoft is now shining the spotlight on OneDrive's new photo handling capabilities, especially on Android.

It would be simple enough if people simply used cloud services for dumping their photos online, but many users have gotten accustomed to Google Photos' album management features. Although it doesn't exactly reach the same level of complexity as Photos' AI-based sorting and tagging, Microsoft is introducing new ways to organize and view photos on the OneDrive app for Android.

OneDrive can automatically put photos into folders based on their source, separating camera photos from downloaded images. Photos can be grouped by date, including in large buckets of months or years. For both OneDrive on Android and the Web, users can also filter to see only photos from their Pictures folder instead of everything stored on their accounts.

The highlight of Microsoft's announcement, however, is OneDrive's ability to make quick edits to those images. From cropping to rotating to even adjusting colors and levels, OneDrive for the Web and Android will offer basic tools that will save you from having to download the image, edit it in a dedicated app, and then uploading it again. And when it comes time to show off those photos, Android users can simply throw their photos to a Chromecast-enabled device for everyone to see.

OneDrive for Android's new organization features are expected to be available within the next two months. Photo editing features for the Web and Android, on the other hand, are now available for those platforms. iOS will have to wait until later this year for their turn.