The PhotoScan app is demonstrated on Tuesday, Nov. 15, 2016 in New York. Google wants to make digitizing your old photo prints as easy as opening an app. The new app for iPhones and Android phones will use the phone's camera to capture an old photo in four sections and stitch them together, much like a panorama shot. Google says this approach helps eliminate glare that can mar attempts to digitize print by simply photographing the whole photo. (AP Photo/Nick Jesdanun) Google wants to make digitizing your old photo prints as easy as opening an app.
The PhotoScan app for iPhones and Android phones will use the phone's camera to capture an old photo in four sections and stitch them together, much like a panorama shot. Google says this approach helps eliminate glare that can mar attempts to digitize a print by simply photographing the whole photo.
The app will make minor adjustments to restore color in faded photos and to aligned corners when the photo print is bent.
Julia Winn, a product manager for the new app, says scanning photos with traditional scanners takes time, while third-party digitizing services cost money and require you to part with your photos temporarily, risking loss and damage.
The free app comes out Tuesday.
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