Google is trialling a monthly subscription service that makes physical prints of your best photos and delivers them directly to your door – a way of preserving your "best memories" in a way that you can hang on the wall or stick on the fridge.
As spotted by 9to5Google, the service will set you back $7.99 (about £6 / AU$12) a month, and for your money you get 10 printed pictures, 4 inches by 6 inches in size, on matte white card stock.
Google picks the photos that its AI thinks are the best shots, but you can choose what type of snaps you get sent: mostly people and pets, mostly landscapes, or "a little bit of everything".
- Leaked specs for the Moto G Stylus
- Nvidia Tesla GPUs could get a huge speed boost
- It's the end of the road for Google One
You can change your preferences at any time if you feel like you're getting too many prints of the dog or too many shots of sweeping mountain ranges without any people in them.
Limited availability
Google is describing the subscription service as a "trial program", and it's only available in the US for the time being – there's no word yet on whether it'll ever become available more widely. It could be pitched as an alterative for the best photo book services.
There's no way to apply to try it out, but if you're chosen to participate, you'll see a banner saying "you're invited to the monthly photo prints trial" when you sign into Google Photos.
Google has been pushing its physical prints service in recent months, though it's been available for years. You can get everything from large canvas prints to photo books from the images stored in Google Photos, all with a few clicks or taps.
The printing service helps Google make more money from its photo storage app, which can be used for free within certain limits – that's perhaps one reason to think this subscription option won't be a trial for much longer.
