Latest Snapseed update gives you a few more reasons to skip Lightroom

As a longtime Snapseed fan, I was stoked when Google finally started showing the app some love this year. Since then, the company has rolled out several new features and improved the app in multiple ways. Well, it doesn’t seem like Google is planning to stop anytime soon.

Google has started rolling out Snapseed v4.2 on Android and iOS, and the update introduces several new features to the much-loved photo-editing app (via Droid Life). The update brings the Motion Blur tool—previously only available on iPhones—to Android users as well.

You can use Motion Blur to add movement to photos: you can blur the entire scene, add blur to the background to give the photo a “panning” look, or add motion blur to the subject. The update also adds a new Depth option to Snapseed’s existing Lens Blur tool. Choose Depth, and Snapseed uses the depth of your scene to soften the background naturally, much like shooting with a wide-aperture lens. There’s also a Bokeh Boost slider that makes highlights bloom into bokeh. When I tried the tool for the first time, Snapseed performed a one-time download, but after that, I could use it without any further downloads.

Also new in Snapseed v4.2 is the ability to import LUTs and presets. We’ve spotted LUT support in teardowns over the past few months, and it’s now finally coming to users. If you have preset packs you use in other apps like Lightroom, or custom LUTs for color grading, you can bring them into Snapseed. According to the changelog, the app supports .cube, .xmp, .3dl, .png, and .snapseed files, and you’ll find the import option under Manage Looks in the gallery menu. Alongside this, full multi-wheel Color Grading is now rolling out to everyone on Android.

However, LUT support seems to be rolling out via a server-side switch. I can’t see the option to import LUTs on my device running Snapseed v4.2. If you can’t import your custom LUTs into Snapseed either, you’ll probably just have to wait for Google to flip the switch.

Snapseed has long let you share your edits as QR Looks, and v4.2 builds on that: you can now share your custom Looks with the LUTs they use included. This is another feature we’ve seen in teardowns. The app also now features community-made Looks, tagged #SnapseedLook. You can browse them on their original photos, try one on your own shot, and open the full edit recipe to see every adjustment that went into it.

Snapseed v4.2 is rolling out gradually, which means you may or may not see the update yet. We checked several devices, and the update is available on some, but not all. If you can’t see the update in the Play Store or App Store, you’ll just have to wait a bit.