Google is testing a new integration within its Photos app that allows users to edit Memories with CapCut, a video editing application owned by ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok.
This development, discovered by Android Authority through an APK teardown of Google Photos version 7.38, marks an unusual move for Google as it directly promotes an external application within its own platform. The integration involves CapCut, a popular video editing tool.
The APK teardown, which involves analyzing the internal code of an application package, revealed that the “Edit in CapCut” button appears within the Memories viewer of Google Photos. Memories is a feature that automatically generates highlight reels from a user’s past photos and videos.
The interface for Google Photos Memories recently underwent a full-screen redesign, and the new “Edit in CapCut” button is prominently displayed in the bottom left corner of the screen when viewing Memories composed solely of photographs. However, the CapCut editing option does not appear for Memories that consist exclusively of video content, referred to as video spotlights.
When a user taps the “Edit in CapCut” button without the CapCut application installed on their device, they are prompted to install the application via the Google Play Store. If CapCut is already installed, the selected Memory is expected to be downloaded and then transferred directly into the CapCut editor for further modifications.
The integration was discovered by Assemble Debug in India, but CapCut is currently banned in India, preventing the full functionality of the feature from being tested in that region. The application experienced a temporary suspension in the United States but has since become available again earlier this year.
The limited rollout and the fact that the feature is not yet available in the app’s beta version suggest that Google may be conducting a restricted test or evaluating the integration’s viability.
