Snapseed looks like it's working on its own Magic Eraser upgrade

Ever since Snapseed came back to life on Android earlier this year with its big 4.0 release, we’ve been eagerly working to spot what new features and changes the photo-editing app could be brewing up next. Today we’ve got a new one to share, but not without a few questions about how it might fit in with existing tools.

Looking at the recent Snapseed 4.1.11.998794600 update, we’ve spotted work towards a new addition to the app’s downloadable extensions. You might already be familiar with the Downloaded resources screen in Snapseed Settings, where you can install the optional Depth mode in Lens Blur tool. Now it looks like Snapseed is preparing to add a second one here: “Erase.”

We’ve been able to coerce the app into showing that new Erase option — and we can even get a download of the extension started — but that’s as far as this preview is going at the moment. Even if we can install Erase early, the app hasn’t yet connected it to the UI in a way we’re able to access, so we can’t show you it in action.

That’s a shame, because we’re very curious exactly what this is going to offer. Snapseed has an existing Healing tool, which attempts to remove objects by basically covering them with nearby background elements — like an automated Photoshop clone stamp tool. It can work fine for small objects, but struggles with larger ones and complicated backgrounds.

Presumably, Erase would offer some measure of an upgrade — and AI tools certainly come to mind. Because we’re downloading it, this would probably mean we’re looking at on-device processing, but we don’t yet have the full picture.

As we wait to learn about Snapseed’s plans for Erase, we’ve also got a small update on the app’s progress towards delivering a powerful new tool for creating photo collages. That’s still not quite ready to debut, but the app appears to already be preparing a new UI for its arrival:

That’s our existing main screen on the left there, with its wide Add Photo bar that goes right to your gallery. The next two screen aren’t live just yet, but we see the app considering a new, shorter bar that also adds new options: one for pulling up the last pic you shot with Snapseed itself, and one that takes you to the file picker you see on the right.

With any luck, we’ll be seeing all these changes start showing up in the app soon.