Microsoft’s Photos app in Windows 11 is getting a “Bing Visual Search” feature, which lets you search for images similar to the photos you’re looking at.
The updated version of the Photos app also brings improved navigation for your photo gallery, quick access to image editing features, and a number of tweaks to make Photos an overall better user experience.
Photos is the default image viewing and organizing app in Windows, and this update brings with it some long-awaited features. While you’re looking at an image and curious about something in it, you can use Visual Search with Bing to instantly perform a reverse image search, which has Bing scour the web for similar images and any information that might be relevant to the image you’re looking up (similar to Google’s reverse image search).
There is already a similar feature in the Snipping Tool app, which allows you to do this after taking a screenshot.
What else is in store for the Photos app?
In addition to the new reverse image search features, you can now browse through photos more easily thanks to smoother gallery navigation. You can also access image editing tools directly from your desktop or File Explorer.
The improved Photos app is currently available through the Windows Insider Program, a select group of Windows users who get early access to Windows features. Regular users will hopefully not have to wait long, as most features that reach this preview status will roll out generally in future Windows 11 cumulative updates.
Users of the Photos app in Windows 10 can now also sync their iCloud Photos, Apple’s cloud storage for images, a feature that’s been around in Windows 11 for a while. This means that if you have a Windows PC and an iPhone or iPad, you can easily access your iCloud photos once you’ve synced them in the Photos app on your Windows 10 device.
I don’t know how many people will find this useful, since Google Search still dominates the search market and offers its own image search capabilities, but it’s good to give users more tools and opportunities to interact with their own media. Bing reverse image search is more compelling, since most people who have ever heard of reverse image search would usually think of Google or TinEye – if they do at all.