Understand what Google Clips captures

We've put machine learning capabilities directly into Google Clips so when you turn it on, the camera looks for good moments to capture. Learn more about what Google Clips sees and how it decides when to capture clips.

Familiar faces

Google Clips learns to recognize the people who matter most to you. The more you're with someone, the more it learns to capture clips of them, or you can teach Clips who is important to you by taking a portrait with the shutter button or letting Clips learn from photos in your Google Photos library.  In general, Google Clips captures when it sees a person, especially a familiar face, up close (within 3-8 feet).

Smiles and happy expressions

Google Clips looks for smiles and other expressions to capture clips of people at their best. Remember to frame the shot and make sure your camera can clearly see people's faces.

Pets

Google Clips knows when it sees furry friends too! Your camera can detect most dogs and cats and will automatically capture clips when they're close to the camera.

Movement in the scene

Google Clips looks for motion in the scene and captures when it sees there are new, large movements.

New points of view

Clips aims to avoid giving you too many redundant clips, so it looks for new points of view. Set the camera down in new locations and clip it to new objects during capture so you can get new perspectives on your experiences.

Reducing bad shots

Clips tries to give you more great moments and will avoid capturing bad ones. Clips tries not to capture hands covering the lens, moments when the lens is fully blocked, and times when the camera is swinging or bouncing.

Other things to keep in mind

  • Clips works best up close with people, cats, and dogs: Get your camera close to family, friends, and pets to capture expressions or excitement. Keep the camera within 3 to 8 feet of your subject for best results.
  • Manual capture: You can manually capture specific moments using Google Clips too. Just use the shutter button on the camera or in Live Preview in the Google Clips app.
  • Introduce friends & family: Google Clips learns to recognize familiar faces on its own, but you can also give your camera a head start. Snap a portrait of someone or let your camera learn from photos from your Google Photos library (Android only). Go here to learn more about this amazing feature!
  • Clips gets "more", but not "all": Clips is all about capturing those candid moments that happen in between big photo moments. While it's smart, it still doesn't understand everything you understand. So if there's a moment you definitely want to capture, use the shutter button.

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