Google’s AI photo editing tools are expanding to a lot more phones

Google is making its AI photo editing features available to a lot more people. Starting May 15th, just about all Google Photos users will be able to access features previously limited to Pixel owners and Google One subscribers — a nifty upgrade if you were tired of Photos urging you to “upgrade” to get access to more editing tools (it’s me).

Magic Editor is Google’s generative AI photo editing tool, and it debuted as one of the headline AI features on the Pixel 8 and 8 Pro. Those kinds of features typically remain exclusive to new Pixels for six months after launch, and right on time, Google’s bringing it to previous Pixel phones.

But it’s not stopping there; any Google Photos user with an Android or iOS device that meets the minimum requirements will be able to use it without a Google One subscription — you’ll just be limited to 10 saved edits per month. Pixel owners and paid subscribers, however, will get unlimited use.

Older features like Photo Unblur and Magic Eraser — which used to be available only to Pixel owners and certain Google One subscribers — will be free for all Photos users. Google has a full list of these features on its Photos community site, and it includes things like editing portrait mode blur and lighting effects (useful, but not the cutting-edge stuff, for better or worse). Other generative AI features that launched with the Pixel 8 series, like Best Take and Audio Magic Eraser, are remaining exclusive to those newest Pixels, at least for now.

If you’re ready to jump into the future of AI-powered photo editing and use Magic Editor, you’ll need a device with at least a 64-bit chip, 4GB of RAM, and either iOS 15 or Android 8.0. Those are pretty generous requirements — the AI happens off-device anyhow — and if you’re somehow still using an iPhone 5, not being able to use Magic Editor is probably the least of your concerns.