Now You Can Quickly Crop and Edit Photos Before Sharing Them on Android
Sometimes you need to make a few quick edits before you send a photo to WhatsApp or Gmail. Maybe you need to crop out something in the background or enhance the image to make it sharper. If you have Android 14 or later, Google’s new Quick Edit feature can help. It’s similar to editing screenshots before you post them, but it applies to everything in your Google Photos library.
How to Quickly Edit Photos Before Sharing Them
To use Quick Edit, first update the Google Photos app on your Android smartphone to the latest available version. Then select a photo and tap the Share button. Now, instead of viewing the Share menu directly, you’ll see a new screen called Quick Edit.
As it stands, this screen is simple. Around the photo, you’ll see the familiar crop feature. You can grab the handles at any corner of the image to crop out everything outside of them. It’s also a free-form crop, so you’re not limited by aspect ratio.
The only additional feature here is the “Enhance” button. This feature automatically edits your image. There are no customization options here, but it can be useful for quickly brightening up a dull image.
When you’re ready, tap the Share button below to open the familiar Share menu. From here, you can choose any app you want to share the image to.
A unique aspect of using the quick edit feature is that it is limited to the share menu. Cropping and enhancing will not revert to the original image in the Google Photos app. This can be annoying if you plan to publish it later, but it also keeps your edits non-destructive.
How to disable quick edit feature
While the quick edit feature is certainly useful, it is still quite limited. All you can do is crop or perform automatic enhancements. It would be nice to see some more image editing features like those in the screenshot editing tool in the future.
Adding aspect ratio cropping, a blur tool, and custom editing options can make a big difference. Meanwhile, if seeing that limited screen every time you share a photo is getting on your nerves, there’s a way to turn it off. From the Quick Edit screen, tap the Settings icon in the top-right corner. Then, from the pop-up menu, select the Off option.
Now, when you share an image, you’ll be taken straight to the Share menu. You can turn Quick Edit back on at any time by going to Google Photos Settings > Sharing > Quick Edit Before Sharing .