Viewing and Sharing Photos in the Google+ App
You can view all the photos you have uploaded to Google+ by tapping Photos in the home screen of the Google+ app. This shows all the groups of photos you have in Google+ in a series of square tiles (as shown in Figure 13-21) that rotate between the photos contained within.
FIGURE 13-21 Groups of photos in the Google+ app.
The groups are as follows:
+ From your circles
+ Photos of you
+ From your phone
+ Photos from posts
+ Profile photos
Following these groups are the tiles of all the individual albums you have created for your account.
Tapping on one of the tiles opens the photos contained within (as shown in Figure 13-22). Any photos with comments attached include a small speech bubble icon.
FIGURE 13-22 Viewing a photo album in the Google+ app.
Swiping up and down the screen reveals further photos contained in the album, and tapping on a photo displays it in full screen mode.
You can also swipe left and right on photos to view the next and previous photos contained in the photo library.
Any comments attached to a photo are displayed beneath the image. Tap the photo once to display the comments and to reveal an Enter a comment text box (as shown in Figure 13-23). Tap the photo again to remove the comments and display the image full screen. You can add your own comments using the keyboard and post them using the Send icon. Use the Back button on your smartphone to head back to the albums.
FIGURE 13-23 Viewing comments in the Google+ app.
Any photos you have snapped on your mobile phone appear in the From your phone album in Photos on both iOS and Android devices. From here, you can share them with your Circles on Google+.
Follow these steps to share a photo or photos:
1. Tap Photos.
2. Tap the From your phone tile.
3. Tap the circular-arrowed share icon at the bottom of the screen on Android devices. This step isn’t required on iOS devices, which are set to share by default.
4. Tap to highlight the images that you want to share, as shown in Figure 13-24. On an iOS device, tap the check boxes below the images.
FIGURE 13-24 Sharing photos from your phone.
5. Tap Share.
6. On the Create a post screen, choose which Circles you want to share the image with, and type a message and location information.
7. Tap the paper plane–shaped post icon (or tap Post on the iOS devices).
Note that this isn’t the same as Instant Upload (which automatically syncs photos in From your phone with the From your phone album on the Google+ website). Even if Instant Upload is disabled, the From your phone area of the Google+ app still contains all the photos.
Will Instant Upload Work on the Google+ iOS App? If you’re using the Google+ app on an iPhone or iPod touch, photos you take are not uploaded to Google+ automatically. Instead, you have to use the Share function before photos are accessible to you on the Google+ website.