Windows latest: OneDrive Photos has appeared in the Start menu on a Windows 11 PC. The app can view and edit photos stored in OneDrive, and Microsoft says the update came through OneDrive rather than a separate install.
That means some users are seeing photo tools arrive inside the same account they already use for cloud storage. The surprise is that the app showed up on a regular production Windows 11 PC, not just on Windows Insiders systems.
OneDrive Photos and Windows 11
Microsoft said OneDrive Photos is generally available today, while its new gallery is being previewed as Photos (Preview) for Windows Insiders in the Experimental channel.
The Start menu can place OneDrive Photos under recent or recommended apps, or in the Apps list on Windows 11. The app gives direct access to Moments, Gallery, People, Albums, Favorites, and This PC.
Gallery, People, and editing
The Gallery view shows photos, screenshots, and other images stored in OneDrive from latest to earliest. Users can hover over a photo to get information on it, delete it, share it, or add it as a favorite.
Users can also open a photo full screen and crop it, adjust brightness and other attributes, apply filters, or open it with Paint or Microsoft Photos.
The People category displays the faces of people in a OneDrive photos library. Users can select a person and enter a name, then click a face to pull up other photos of that person through facial recognition.
Microsoft's face-grouping limits
Microsoft said face grouping is visible only to the account owner and is never shared; users also have the ability to opt out at any time. Microsoft does not use these facial scans to train its AI models, and all data is deleted after 30 days.
Users who want to turn it off can go to Settings, click More settings, open their OneDrive web page, select Photos, and switch off the photo tagging and People options. The open question is why the app surfaced on some non-Insider Windows 11 PCs when Microsoft ties the new gallery preview to Windows Insiders in the Experimental channel.
