Interestingly, Microsoft said that the new OneDrive Photos app should only be seen by Windows users enrolled in the Windows Insider program.
“OneDrive Photos is already generally available today, and we’re now previewing its new gallery as ‘Photos (Preview)’ for Windows Insiders in the Experimental channel,” the company said, in a statement provided by a company representative. “This update arrived through a OneDrive update rather than a separate install.
“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 added. “Microsoft does not use these facial scans to train its AI models, and all data is deleted after 30 days. We will gather feedback from Insiders and continue to iterate on the experience before rolling it out more broadly.”
The PC that OneDrive Photos installed upon is not enrolled in a Windows Insider program, however. (It is also installed on my work laptop in non-Preview version. ~Brad the editor.) I’ve asked Microsoft for further comment.
Here’s what’s in OneDrive Photos
OneDrive Photos, as noticed by Windows Latest, apparently just showed up out of the blue on some machines. It’s not a link to an app on the Microsoft Store; it simply downloaded by itself on to my PC, and to others as well. You can try searching for it on Windows Search to see if it’s on your PC, as well.
Mark Hachman / Foundry
OneDrive Photos and the regular Photos app share many similarities, but OneDrive Photos has a stripped-down menu that lists Moments, Gallery, People, Albums, Favorites, and This PC. Here’s what they are: