Google Photos is primarily a media gallery, sharing, and storage service. It also comes with a few additional perks and features, such as a suite of free image editing tools. But, did you know that a Google One subscription puts a few additional powerful editing tools into your hands?

It might be worth spending a bit every month to use these extra features. Keep reading for a look at what kind of tools you get for free with Google Photos, and what you can expect from a paid subscription to Google One.

What Is Google One?

Google One is a paid service with a series of monthly and yearly subscription plans best known for offering additional cloud storage space across Google Drive, Gmail, and Google Photos. The plans start at 100GB of additional storage and can go up to 30TB, but each comes with unique features and benefits.

A Screenshot of the Google One Storage Manager Page

Google One subscriptions come with a ton of perks, some of which include access to Google experts for help with Google products and services, VPN by Google One, and the ability to share the account with five other people. One of the more interesting features, though, is Google Photos' editing tools.

Google Photos Free Editing Options

All Google accounts come with 15GB of cloud storage and photo editing tools for free. Tack on the fact that you can upload all pictures and videos in lower quality without using any storage space, and it seems hard to make a case for paying for a Google One subscription.

The free Google Photos editing toolkit is already pretty great. The editing basics are there, and include ways to crop, rotate, and resize pictures. You can also try Google's Enhance and B&W Portrait suggestions.

The widest range of free options is under the Adjust menu. Here, you can tinker with the following image settings, among others:

  • Brightness
  • Contrast
  • Saturation
  • Tint
  • Sharpen
  • Denoise
  • Vignette

And, as with most modern image editing apps, you can find a fair share of filters, along with markup tools, like a pen, highlighter, and options for adding text.

Google One Exclusive Editing Tools in Google Photos

Considering the free editing options available, what could possibly be missing from Google Photos' editing tools that would justify signing up for Google One? A paid subscription to Google One adds only a handful of editing tools, but they're truly impressive. There are seven in total, and they're provided as suggestions, tools, or adjustments.

1. Suggestions

Under suggestions, you'll find three great paid options. These are dynamic, portrait, and color pop. They show up automatically depending on the image you've selected, and appear immediately after you tap the Edit icon on any picture.

The dynamic suggestion makes automatic adjustments to an image's brightness, saturation, and contrast to better highlight details and attempts to create a more stunning image.

Portrait, as a suggestion, applies the same effects that taking a picture in portrait mode does. It's a fantastic and easy way to add the effect when you might've forgotten to swap to portrait mode. While it's best for pictures of friends and family, it also does a great job with objects.

Color pop makes certain colors stand out by automatically applying grayscale to the rest of an image. It can't be applied manually, but it'll typically highlight the object or person at the center of the image. In my experience, it does a pretty great job of determining what to highlight, but it's not perfect.

Depending on the selected image for editing, you might also see some of the following, often less impactful, suggestions:

  • Vivid
  • Luminous
  • Radiant
  • Ember
  • Airy
  • Afterglow
  • Stormy

2. Tools

The tools section is where Google One's paid image editing options are most impressive. These are the Blur, Magic eraser, and Color focus options.

The blur tool is a fantastic way to apply a depth-of-field effect to any image. While useful for portrait photography, it works great with any image where you want to apply a realistic and professional blur effect. To use it, tap Blur and drag to change the focal point, then tap Depth and raise or lower the depth gauge to change the blur intensity.

The magic eraser tool is a godsend for shots that are near-perfect, except for one or more elements that might ruin the picture. With this tool, you can erase or camouflage certain items, people, or defects.

There are other apps for removing objects from images, but Google definitely got it right here. The best way to use magic eraser is to tap Erase, and then swipe over any object you want to remove from an image.

The color focus tool is somewhat similar to the color pop suggestion. But, instead of highlighting the color on a specific object or person, it does so across the entire image. In most cases, it desaturates the background of an image and maintains the colors of the foreground.

3. Adjustments

HDR tool selected at 100%

There's only one addition to the adjustments section in Google Photos with a Google One subscription. It's the ability to adjust HDR for any image. It's an easy way to simultaneously modify the brightness and contrast in a way that adds depth to an image. To use it, simply head to Adjust, tap HDR, and move the slider until you're happy with the results.

Google One's Exclusive Editing Tools Are Worth the Subscription

The largest benefit that comes with a Google One subscription is the convenience of having the editing tools in the same app where you store all your images and videos.

While there are free and paid alternatives that can work, Google One saves you the trouble of exporting or searching for images separately when you want to edit them. Additionally, all edits can be undone in perpetuity. The combination of solid tools and convenience are excellent.

While the additional image editing tools that come with Google One are fantastic, some of the plans offer much more. If you're keen on protecting yourself while browsing the web, for example, you might consider learning more about VPN by Google One for Android. It's easy to use, works in dozens of countries, and has a "set it and forget it" approach.