Capturing motion shots is a great way to add some fun to mundane photos. Albeit they work differently on different devices, at least for me, they all have one thing in common — I’ve left the feature enabled on multiple devices without realizing it. On Pixels, they’re part of the Top Shot setting, while on Samsung and Apple devices, said shots are denoted by a small icon in the camera interface’s toolbar overlay.
Most of the time, these accidental shots get forgotten in your camera roll, but Google wants to change that.
It’s often that said motion shots get stripped of, well, their motion when you try to upload them to online platforms. Google Maps is currently one such platform, though that could soon change.
As spotted by the folks over at Android Authority in Google Maps’ 25.35.00.798803015 beta build, the tech giant is working on making Google Maps compatible with motion photos, essentially allowing users to enhance their reviews and add more context with short clips.
The final look is still out of focus
<string name="motion_photo_education_dialog_body">Tap the top left icon on motion photos to add them to your post as videos instead of photos.</string>
<string name=”motion_photo_education_dialog_title”>Turn motion photos into videos</string>
<string name=”motion_photo_education_tooltip_text”>Tap to upload as video</string>
So no, motion photos won’t be uploaded as ‘photos’ with animation support. Instead, the upload process will convert said photos to videos and upload them accordingly. Users will, however, have the option to upload their motion photo as a still shot if and when needed. Maps will reportedly alert users about the development with in-app prompts once the functionality is live.
The functionality isn’t available to try out just yet. It also couldn’t be manually enabled, so the exact behavior and the way the feature’s interface will appear is currently unclear. `
