Google+ has announced a raft of improvements for its iPhone and Android mobile apps, with the addition of photo edits and filters taking centre stage.
The social network joins the likes of Facebook, Twitter and Flickr, all of which have recently added the option to infuse photos with a retro flavour, in response to the overwhelming popularity of Instagram.
The addition of photo effects like Drama and Retrolux within the G+ app comes courtesy of the excellent and full-featured Snapseed photo editing application, which Google acquired in September last year.
As well as filters, users will be able to perform simple crops and rotations, while also adjusting saturation, brightness and contrast through the Snapseed app's unique in-image sliding tool.
More minor tweaks for posts and profiles
In addition to the new photo features, users of the Android app will also notice improvements to how posts are displayed. They'll include more text and uncropped image previews and easier access to the +1 button.
The Android update also includes the ability to "swipe through photo albums inline," wrote Amar Gandhi, Director of Product Management on the G+ blog.
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Users of both apps can now also share their location only with specific circles, while the update also brings "the ability to adjust the volume of community posts in your Home stream," and "the option to invite people to a community, or reshare items with a community."
The new versions of the apps are available to download from Google Play and the App Store starting today.
