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Facebook’s new tool lets you transfer pictures to Google Photos

Facebook’s new tool lets you transfer pictures to Google Photos

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Available worldwide in first half of 2020

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Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Facebook is releasing a new tool today that will allow its users to transfer photos directly to Google Photos. The tool is being released initially in Ireland, and will be available worldwide in the first half of 2020. “For almost a decade, we’ve enabled people to download their information from Facebook,” explains Steve Satterfield, director of privacy and public policy at Facebook. “The photo transfer tool we’re starting to roll out today is based on code developed through our participation in the open-source Data Transfer Project.”

This Data Transfer Project also includes participants such as Apple, Google, Microsoft, Twitter, and others. Facebook says it’s starting with Google Photos initially, but other services could be included in the future. Facebook is testing the tool in Ireland, and it will refine it based on feedback from users.

This tool will be useful for Google Photos users that don’t automatically backup pictures from their phones. If you’re a Facebook and Google Photos user who does backup photos, then it’s likely that most photos posted to the social network are already backed up on Google’s service.