In an effort to make MIUI more integrated with Google’s ecosystem, Xiaomi has announced that photo and video backups through Google Photos will now be built-in to the MIUI Gallery app too. Additionally, the company said that Xiaomi Cloud users will be able to move their backed up photos and videos over to Google Photos, so they can keep their collections in one location.
Xiaomi will begin rolling out this functionality on existing devices starting in Singapore on October 24. Other markets will get the update too, but it’s not clear when or which markets will get the functionality – hopefully, it will be a global rollout. Google gives you 15 GB of storage, but you can always expand this with Google One subscriptions. For those migrating from Xiaomi Cloud to Google Photos, there will be introductory membership trials of Google One available.
Providing comment, Quanxin Wang, General Manager of Product & Technology at Xiaomi International, said:
“Xiaomi is continuously searching for ways to improve our software product experience. Google Photos and Xiaomi share similar values in aiming to provide a reliable platform for users and their day-to-day moments captured on their smartphones. Our cooperation with Google Photos will offer users an easy way to ensure their data is stored securely, while being able to easily access them across different devices as required.”
For those that were wondering, this isn’t some hackish implementation done by Xiaomi alone. Google said that it has been excited to be able to work with Xiaomi to make the experience better for the Chinese company’s customers.