Picasa: What You Need to Know

Most of you who use Picasa, know that Google is not going to support or update Picasa. Instead, Google wants you to use Google Photos.

Many of you who are using Picasa are looking for substitutes for it. So it seems there is a lot of confusion about what’s going on with Picasa. But one thing we want to make sure you are aware of is:

Picasa is not going away…it will continue to work for you just as it always has. If you like Picasa the way it is and use it to save and share your photo collections, you don’t have to use something else or go scrambling around for a substitute.

Here’s the official information from Google on Picasa. We hope this eases the minds of all of you who use Picasa (source: https://picasa.google.com/):

Moving on from Picasa

We’ve decided to retire Picasa in order to focus on a single photo service in Google Photos – a new, smarter photo app that works seamlessly across mobile and the web.

Where can I find my photos?

If you have photos or videos in a Picasa Web Album, the easiest way to still access, modify and share most of that content is to log in to Google Photos. Your photos and videos will already be there.

What about my tags, captions, and comments?

For those who want to be able to view specific content, such as tags, captions or comments, we’ll be creating a new place for you to access your Picasa Web Albums data. It’ll allow you to view, download, or delete your Picasa Web Albums, but you won’t be able to create, organize or edit albums.

Can I still use the desktop application?

For those who have already downloaded it, it will continue to work as it does today. But we will not be developing it further, and there will be no future updates.

If you choose to switch to Google Photos, you can continue to upload photos and videos using the desktop uploader at https://photos.google.com/apps .

What about my photos from Blogger, Hangouts, & Google+?

These photos won’t automatically appear in Google Photos, but you’ll be able to access them with your Picasa Web Albums data in the new place we’re building – coming soon.

Moving forward

We apologize for any inconvenience this transition causes, but we want to assure you that we’re doing this with the aim of providing the best photos experience possible. Google Photos is a new and smarter product that offers a better platform for us to build amazing experiences and features for you in the future.

So there you have it – the official word from Google. Picasa is not going away – you can continue to use it. However there will be no further updates (is that a bad thing?) and Google will not be developing it further (is that a bad thing?).

So if you use Picasa and you like it just the way it is, it will continue to be just like it is now, and work just as it does now.