The changes, as spotted by 9to5Google are definitely new since the RAW photos did not appear in the “Photos” tab on Android and Pixel devices in the past. The website posted a couple of screenshots as well. One of the screenshots of “Google Photos” from a Pixel 8 smartphone read, “New RAW photos will appear in Photos view and will now be backed up.”
As of now, users need to manually enable cloud storage for RAW images, even when it is switched on for normal photos. The feature makes sense given RAW photos are generally very large in size and users might not want every RAW photo that there is on their device to get automatically backed up.
For those unaware, RAW photos generally contain unprocessed data from the camera sensor and are large in size. Backing up RAW images on mobile data isn’t generally considered a good idea as they use up a lot of it.
While the feature was spotted on Pixel 8, do keep in mind that there is no official confirmation of it rolling out for other Android devices or a timeline. However, given it is already showing up for some users, it could gradually be available for others as well. “There’s no obvious way with existing backup settings to restrict RAW uploads,” the report read.
The report also points out another major change with the feature. The “Raw” folder on the Pixel smartphone, which could previously be accessed in the Library tab in Photos is no longer available.
To recall, Google announced its new Pixel 8 smartphones earlier this month with Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro. The devices ship with several Google Photos features such as “Best Take”, “Magic Editor”, “Audio Magic Earser”, and more. The features are enabled by Artificial Intelligence (AI). Given all the high-end smartphones these days have support for RAW photos, it only makes sense for phonemakers to offer solutions to better manage them.
