Google Photos reaches one billion installs, two years after initial release

It was announced at Google I/O in May that Google Photos now has 500,000 million monthly active users, no small feat for a two-year-old app. Today, we learn that the photography-focused app has passed another big milestone: one billion installs.

This can be seen on the Photos’ Play Store page, and while it’s an impressive figure, these downloads aren’t all completely organic, as phones now ship with Photos installed. Many of the apps in the one billion club also come pre-installed on devices, as you might expect, though apps like Instagram and WhatsApp appear far less frequently than Google’s products.

What’s more, installs aren’t the same as users — a single person can download and install the app on multiple devices. Thus, as mentioned above, only about half of those installs represent people using the app on a monthly basis. Still, that’s not to discount what an achievement this is — Photos is one of only 22 apps to reach the one billion mark.

Google Photos is a free photo storage app that provides easy editing tools, smart sorting features, automatic backups for your snaps and more. Possibly its most attention-grabbing feature, however, is the unlimited “high-quality” photo and video storage it offers.

Given the app’s easy-of-use, the power of its algorithms (just try searching your uploaded pictures with a keyword), the potential it offers for freeing up storage space on your handset, in addition to the aforementioned features, it’s not really a surprise that Photos has been a success.

If you haven’t yet (and you probably have), you can download Photos at the link below. To check out the other apps with a billion installs, hit the link.