Google Photos is testing a third-party integration with CapCut, a video editing application. This potential feature was discovered by Android Authority during an APK teardown of version 7.38 of the Google Photos Android application, revealing an “Edit in CapCut” button within the Memories viewer.
This integration represents an unusual development for Google, as the company rarely promotes third-party applications directly within its own platforms. The CapCut application is owned by ByteDance, a company that has faced scrutiny in multiple regions, including the United States. Despite this, the “Edit in CapCut” button has been identified in the application’s code, suggesting a potential future rollout.
The “Edit in CapCut” button specifically appears when viewing Memories composed solely of photographs. Google Photos automatically generates these highlight reels from users’ past photos and videos. The button is prominently displayed in the bottom left corner of the screen within the full-screen Memories user interface. This interface design change was first observed in February. However, if a Memory is a “video spotlight,” meaning it consists only of video content, the CapCut editing option does not appear. This distinction indicates a specific targeting of photo-based Memories for external video editing.
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Upon tapping the “Edit in CapCut” button, the system’s behavior depends on whether CapCut is already installed on the user’s device. If CapCut is not present, the user is prompted with a Play Store link to install the application. If CapCut is already installed, the selected Memory is expected to be downloaded and then transferred directly into the CapCut editor for further customization. Developers were unable to fully verify the latter functionality due to CapCut’s unavailability in India, where the integration was discovered by contributor Assemble Debug.
The presence of this feature in the code, despite CapCut being banned in some countries like India and having faced temporary suspensions in others, raises questions regarding its accessibility and functionality across different regions. This feature has not been widely rolled out, nor has it appeared in the beta version of the Google Photos application. This suggests that Google may be conducting a limited test or exploring a regional launch for this integration. The use of an APK teardown provides an indication of potential future features based on work-in-progress code, though such features are not guaranteed to be released publicly.
