Magic Editor is a new feature in Google Photos that opens up a world of AI-powered editing skills. The new feature leverages generative AI to give you Photoshop-style editing right on your phone. The feature was first demoed at Google I/O 2023, before making its debut on the Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro phones in October 2023.

It forms part of an AI-enhanced photography offering, taking Google's position as a leader in computational photography forward a step. It's an impressive feature too, unlike anything you'll find on any other phone and that makes it worthy of your attention.

What is Google Magic Editor and how does it work?

Magic Editor is a new option in Google Photos that will allow you to make a number of Photoshop-like edits to your photos, but all powered by AI. Magic Editor will scan your photo and present a number of edits that you can make. It's an enhancement over the previous Magic Eraser option that would allow you to remove small objects from the background of photos. In Magic Editor, you'll be able to remove and replace background, reposition elements within the photo, completely change the style of image and a whole lot more. Here are the main functions it offers:

• Change the sky or water within an image
• Stylise an image
• Create portraits with blurred background or portrait lighting
• Automatically remove distractions from the background of portraits
• Select and remove objects with generative in-fill
• Repositioning and resizing objects

The app will show you what editing options are available based on what is discovered in the image. For example, if there's water, you'll get the water editing options. If there's a distinct face, you'll get portrait options and so on.

When it comes to selecting and removing objects, you'll be able to tap on an element of an image and Magic Editor will select it so you can delete it. The background will be in-filled using generative AI so you can barely see that anything was removed. This removal can be anything from a small object like a sign, through to the entire sky or buildings.

What are some examples of Magic Editor in action?

I've used Magic Editor extensively and here are some examples of images that have been manipulated using Magic Editor. In the first example I have completely changed the sky and water to give and image a real boost, in the second example, I have removed distracting elements from a street scene to give a nicer final result. In the gallery below, the edited version is first, the original is second.

These images show how radical the transformation can be, not just changing the colours and style of sections of an image, but removing objects and accurately filling in the spaces left behind. You'll find a lot more examples in the link below.

When you're using Magic Editor, you are presented with three different options for the edit you have selected. If you're not happy, Magic Editor will create more. You can also layer the options up, so you can complete one set of edits and then start on a different set of edits on that image. That allows you to completely transform the photos that you have taken and end up with something that's quite different to the original photo.

Does Magic Editor run on-device or in the cloud?

This is an important aspect of Magic Editor. Despite everything that Google said about on-device AI with the Pixel 8 models and the Tensor G3 hardware that runs it, Magic Editor actually runs in the cloud. You can test this by turning your phone into aeroplane mode, at which point Magic Editor will not function. The advantage of running in the cloud is that it's not hardware dependent, so in theory, Google could offer Magic Editor even on low power phones and other devices.

However, with increasing moves to get AI happening on device (to save data, reduce security fears and so on), I wouldn't be surprised if Google's ultimate aim was to have Magic Editor running on a wide range of devices.

Can you use Magic Editor online?

You can't use Magic Editor online at the moment. Although Google Photos has a web version, there's no Magic Editor functionality on the web version. However, you can use the web version of Google Photos to provide a link to photos you have on your computer. If you want to use Magic Editor and you have a Pixel 8, you can upload images to the Google Photos website, and then sync those to your phone and then use Magic Editor.

What devices is Magic Editor available on?

Although Magic Editor is part of Google Photos, it is currently only available on two phones:

• Google Pixel 8
• Google Pixel 8 Pro

Google Photos itself is available on all Android phones that offer Google services, but Pixel devices often have access to additional features. In the case of Magic Editor, at the time of writing, it is limited to just those devices, with not even the Pixel 7 Pro getting a look-in. It's unknown whether Google will offer Magic Editor on the forthcoming Pixel 8a, but it would seem likely. Wider availability remains unknown at present, but in theory, Google could open up access to Magic Editor across all its devices and Google Photos on the web. There's been no confirmation this will happen, however, and I can't help feeling that Google will want to preserve Magic Editor as a unique selling point for its smartphones.

What is the Google Magic Editor release date?

Magic Editor was first shown off on 10 May 2023 at Google I/O, it was then further demonstrated at the launch of the Google Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro on 4 October 2023. The Pixel devices went on sale on 12 October and this is when Magic Editor was widely available to everyone who had a Pixel 8 phone.

Beyond that there is no release date: Google hasn't confirmed any plans to release an update to enable Magic Editor on other devices or to make it available elsewhere.