When comparing Google Photos vs Instapaper, the Slant community recommends Instapaper for most people. In the question“What are the most useful Android phone apps?” Instapaper is ranked 17th while Google Photos is ranked 33rd. The most important reason people chose Instapaper is:
Allows leaving notes attached to articles and highlighting certain part of the text. Free version of the app is limited to 5 highlights a month.
Specs
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Pros
Pro Can automatically back up phone's photos
Any images taken with your phone can automatically be backed up to Google Photos. And the first time you run the mobile app it will also help you back up any existing images and videos you might have on your phone.
Pro Can search photos
Text in photos, the content of the photo, and so on can be automatically searched. So one doesn't need to categorize to later find photos. Manual categorization is still possible.
Pro Simple sharing
Any picture or selection of pictures can be sent to anyone, even if they don't have a Google account. Photos will also give you a list of recommended photos to share.
Pro Free unlimited storage
Google Photos comes with free storage for images up to 16Mp and videos up to 1080p which means that most users need no longer worry about storage space.
Pro Can manually classify photos
Can create albums from photos or even manage the whole folders tree manually via Drive.
Pro Non-destructive built-in photo editor
Any photos that you edited can be undone to original copy.
Pro Smart shared libraries
Google Photos allows inviting other users to shared libraries. It has a feature that allows auto-adding all photos and videos or only of specific people to the shared library which is really useful for sharing with families or a close group of friends. It also allows the invitee to save those photos straight to their device automatically as if they took it.
Pro Send images and videos to Gmail and YouTube
If you linked your Google drive with google photos, then you can easily attach any of your Google Photos in an email message.
Pro Uses AI to create fun content
Google's AI automatically generates fun animations, collages, styled photos and stories every now and then which can be shared saved and shared to your device very easily.
Pro iOS app is easy and fun to use
The app is easy to use and has amusing features like reminders, where it pops up photos from many years ago.
Pro Annotation tools
Allows leaving notes attached to articles and highlighting certain part of the text. Free version of the app is limited to 5 highlights a month.
Pro Excellent typography choices
Instapaper allows you to choose from 14 different fonts, some of which have been designed specifically for the application. You can manually adjust spacing between lines, padding around text and font size to fit your preferences.
Pro Allows listening to articles
Instapaper comes with a build in text-to-speech feature that will read out loud articles. Premium version of the app allows creating playlists.
Pro Articles can be emailed to Instapaper
You can add articles to Instapaper by sending them to a unique email address associated with your account.
Pro Pagination
Allows for pagination, not just scrolling.
Pro Awesome offline mode
Pro Can look up words in a dictionary and Wikipedia
Pro Can be set to switch to dark mode based on time of day
Instapaper includes a dark theme and allows switching to it after a set period in time or gradually over the course of the day.
Pro Rarely seen organization options
In addition to allowing you to sort articles by when you saved them, you can also order articles by length or read progress and popularity.
Pro Free archiving of deleted webpages
In Pocket, this is a paid function - but Instapaper provides this for free! If a webpage is deleted, it remains in your Instapaper and they even archive pictures of the articles.
Pro Can playback inline video
Instapaper will play videos from YouTube, Vimeo and other sources that are embedded in articles, but you have to be online for playback to work.
Pro Has a font designed for readers with Dyslexia
Instapaper includes Dyslexie a font that helps people with reading problems understand the text better.
Pro Includes optional social features
If you set your Instapaper profile to be public, your friends will be able to see articles you've liked.
Cons
Con Might be removed anytime
Google has a tendency to quickly shut down or abandon services that don't perform well. Google Photos might run the risk of being discontinued if the user base of the app doesn't meet certain criteria.
Con Taking ownership of your backups is laborious
Major issue with this is getting access to your backups. Gotta wait for massive downloads. With OneDrive they are just files which you can move around.
Con The website has performance issues
The site tends to lag and file uploads can sometimes fail.
Con The web version lacks certain features available on mobile apps
Con Doesn't backup in the background
For iOS devices.
Con Not a lot of free storage space for high-res content
While there's a free unlimited storage plan, it's limited to 16 megapixel images and 1080p videos. Uploading full-resolution content, if you opt out of free unlimited storage plan, is limited to 15GB that comes with a Google account which is shared across all Google services. Increasing that storage space costs about $10/mo per 1TB of storage.
Con Files may be compressed if you're using the unlimited storage option
All images exceeding 16MP and videos exceeding 1080p will automatically be compressed to that size or lower. Meaning high-res images and videos won't work with the unlimited storage option.
Con Became a paid service again
Most functions, like search, became premium.
Con Basic search not free
Basic search for link title or website too is part of the premium.
Con Embedded images and videos are sometimes ignored
Instapaper sometimes saves articles without images or videos.
Con Only supports English
It only supports English, and not Chinese, Japanese, and Korean languages.
Con Tags not implemented
Con Search functions return random articles
The search function is very slow and does not provide accurate results. The user can not filter or reorder the search results, or search the archive or annotated articles.