Google Pixel 9’s ‘Add Me’ Tool Lets the Photographer Be in the Photo
Photographers will never be left out of a group photo again with Google Pixel’s new “Add Me” tool.
On Tuesday, Google launched its latest Pixel hardware at the company’s Made by Google 2024 event.
The company unveiled four new smartphones — the Pixel 9, Pixel 9 Pro, Pixel 9 Pro XL, and Pixel 9 Pro Fold — as well as new apps, services, and AI features.
Among a host of new features, Google announced a new AI-powered tool coming to the company’s forthcoming Pixel 9 smartphones that will allow photographers to add themselves into a photo — without the need for editing software or Photoshop.
Google’s Add Me function allows the smartphone photographer of a group photo to later add themselves in by first taking the group photo and then posing in the same scene alone.
The Google feature then overlays both photos to create one seamless image as if everyone was captured in the same frame at the same time.
No One Gets Left Behind in a Group Photo
Google announced that all its new Pixel 9 smartphones will have the new Add Me mode which “ensures no one gets left behind” in a group photo.
Smartphone users will no longer need to ask a stranger to take a group photo or resort to an awkward arm-length selfie to get everyone in the shot.
“There’s usually the one designated photographer who’s left out of group pictures,” the company says at its Made By Google event this week.
“With Add Me you’ll get a photo with everyone who was there — photographer included — without having to pack a tripod or ask a stranger for help.”
To use the new Add Me tool, users first need to choose one person to take the group photo.
The photographer then needs to hand the phone over to another member of the group, who takes a second shot of the same scene, this time with them in it. Google’s AI then overlays the two pictures and stitches them together to appear as though everyone was in it in the first place.
In a report on the new AI features unveiled at the Made by Google 2024 event, PetaPixel’s Editor-in-Chief Jaron Schneider says that new Add Me tool looks promising and useful.
“The tech behind Add Me relies on technology similar to Google’s existing ‘Best Take,’ which selects the best version of each portrait subject from a series of photos, combines them into a single frame, and applies it to a whole person.
“It’s smart and — more importantly — it works very well (at least from what we saw in our brief hands-on session).”
Image credits: All photos via Google.
