The feature arrives soon after Xbox introduced stories to its app
Photo stories are an increasingly common feature of media sharing apps, as any Instagram or Snapchat user knows. These bite-sized clips can be as handy for sharing your life updates as they are for business that want to reach out to customers. Microsoft just brought a “stories” option to its Xbox app for Android and iOS, and now the company’s OneDrive service is following in those footsteps with its own photo sharing — albeit in a testing capacity.
Microsoft’s OneDrive photo story lets users share photos and videos with friends and family, who can react using comments and emoji. The feature is first being beta-tested in Australia on the OneDrive mobile apps for Android and iOS, as well as on the web. The plan is to make it available in the United States and other regions later this year, once initial user feedback is received. Australian OneDrive users with OneDrive Basic 5GB, Standalone 100GB, Microsoft Personal 365, or 365 Family plans will be getting access.
There are some key differences between OneDrive’s photo-sharing and how things work in other apps. Unlike Instagram, where anybody can access a user’s stories unless the account is private, OneDrive users can only share access with Microsoft account holders that they have invited. There will be the option to make profiles public so that anyone can view their stories, but absent that explicit consent, strangers won’t be able to access these stories.
OneDrive has some solid benefits, like its family sharing plan with up to 1TB of space each for 6 people at a decent cost. However, inconsistencies in its UI and slower performance compared to other file storage software such as Dropbox do detract from Microsoft’s offering. While the photo story feature is a valuable addition, it might not make up for other absences, like comprehensive photo editing tools. Microsoft may need to make more changes than adding a simple story feature to OneDrive to attract more customers going forward.
