The Pixel 9 Pro Is Great (If You Ignore the AI)

Google’s Pixel 9 Pro has a lot to live up to: It's the company's new flagship phone, coming in as AI competition starts to heat up. As Google faces monopoly charges, this is the company's chance to justify its unified ecosystem, a task that the Pixel 9 Pro sadly falls short of.

And yet, on its own, it’s an excellent product. While much of the front-and-center branding tries to sell you on tech that probably needs another 10 years in the oven, the Pixel 9 Pro does regular phone stuff better than any Pixel in recent memory. It has all the strengths of older models, but tuned up, with a sleek design that was long overdue. 

Google Pixel 9 Pro - Unlocked Android Smartphone with Gemini, Triple Rear Camera System, 24-Hour Battery, and 6.3" Super Actua Display - Obsidian - 256 GB

$1,079.99 at Amazon

$1,079.99 at Amazon

The Pixel 9 Pro is finally pocketable

The big draw to the Pixel line of smartphones is usually unique software, but while the Pixel 9 has a few AI tricks up its sleeve to keep up with Apple Intelligence, my favorite change this year is to the phone itself.

That’s because the Pixel 9 Pro, for the first time, now comes in two sizes. There’s the “new” Pixel 9 Pro XL, which is actually about the same size as past Pro models, and the regular Pixel 9 Pro, which when compared to past Pixel Pro models, functions more like a Pixel 9 Pro Mini. Despite having the same naming scheme as those past Pro models, it’s easily the fresher option.

Pixel 9 Pro (right) next to base Pixel 9 (left) Credit: Michelle Ehrhardt

While the XL is more in line with expectations, the regular Pixel 9 Pro finally gives us a Pro Pixel phone that’s the exact same size as the base Pixel. That means no more choosing between pocketability and power. As someone who almost always opts for pro models but tries to get the smallest option I can, I’m ecstatic.

To get the phone to that size, there’s a few compromises—namely, a slightly smaller battery and a predictably smaller screen with a smaller resolution. Everything still feels plenty luxurious, and to me, the tradeoffs are well worth it.

It’s also lightweight, too, at 7 oz compared to the iPhone 15 Pro’s 6.6 oz. The biggest difference here is going to come from your case, which in a neat trick, will also fit a base Pixel 9.

Pixel 9 Pro (middle) next to iPhone 15 Pro (left) and Pixel 8 Pro (right) Credit: Michelle Ehrhardt

That’s because both phones have the same basic layout, down to the size of the new, redesigned camera bar. Google made the camera bar smaller and more circular this year, and while it still sticks out just as much as the old one, the more minimal look is a bit easier on the eyes.

Also easy on the eyes is the 9 Pro’s matte surface, which is a lot less reflective and much less of a fingerprint magnet than the glossier back on the base Pixel 9. The Hazel color my phone came in is also a nice, deep white with a greenish tint, although you can get a black, white, or pink model if those are more your speed. I do miss the light blue option, called Bay, the Pixel 8 line had.

Credit: Michelle Ehrhardt

Still, this is easily the most premium feeling and looking smartphone Google has made to date. There’s also a foldable Pixel 9 Pro, called the Pixel 9 Pro Fold, set to ship next month. I saw a pre-release version of that phone, but haven’t had many opportunities to test it.

Gemini still feels underbaked

Pixels usually thrive on their unique software, like Live Transcribe or Call Assistant, but the Pixel 9’s feature additions are more iterative than usual, with none of the new exclusives really standing out—at least for anything good.

The first you’ll probably stumble across is Add Me, which you can swipe to while taking a picture. Add Me uses local processing to stitch two photos together so nobody has to miss out on being in a shot. Essentially, you take a photo of your friend or partner, then pass the phone off to them so they can take a photo of you. Add Me will then combine the photos to make it seem like you were both in frame at the same time.

It’s a clever idea, and one I was excited to try out on my upcoming honeymoon. Unfortunately, like Magic Editor on previous Pixels, it still feels like a demo.

Credit: Michelle Ehrhardt

Google told me that Add Me doesn’t use generative fill, which means you won’t get any melty backgrounds like in Magic Editor, but it does still fall prey to some basic photoshop tells. Figures added into shots tend to look like they were cut out of a magazine and pasted in, with incorrect lighting and shadows being a clear giveaway. Sizing can also be an issue, with people looking smaller or larger than they might in real life. The same can be said for depth: My fiancé tried framing his arm behind where I was sitting so it would look like it was hugging me, and instead it just kind of blended into my shoulders.

Add Me also only works with people, so don’t think about getting clever with it. I tried it on some anime figures I have on hand, and it wouldn’t recognize them.

Credit: Michelle Ehrhardt

The new Screenshots app fares better, though I doubt many people will use it. The app uses locally processed AI to add titles and descriptions to your screenshots, helping you search through them more quickly. You could use this for things like concert tickets or hotel wifi cards, and the tool’s descriptions were mostly accurate in my usage. It can also read and summarize any text that might be in your screenshots, which could be useful for school notes or boarding passes.

The problem is, it’s limited to screenshots, rather than photos. Even if you’re taking a photo of a physical boarding pass, you’ll have to remember to screenshot that photo to get any use out of Screenshots. I tend to screenshot a lot, but I feel that limitation is going to leave this app mostly buried with standard users. Google’s upcoming Ask Photos feature should help more people, but there’s still no word on a release date for it.

Then, there’s what’s likely to be the most controversial app debuting with the Pixel 9: Pixel Studio. It’s essentially an AI image generator with a basic editor thrown in, although you can also use it to touch up your own photos rather than AI-generated ones.

Credit: Michelle Ehrhardt

Pixel Studio uses a combination of local processing and the Imagen 3 model that also powers Gemini, but something must have broken along the way. Gemini’s safeguards tend to be pretty strict, but like X’s Grok, Pixel Studio can give you some pretty unhinged results.

There are still some safeguards in place: The bot will refuse to generate images of real people, from celebrities to something as generic as “a cashier at a grocery store.” The issue is Pixel Studio seems to be more permissive of violence than Gemini, and has no issues with depicting copyrighted characters.

I was able to get some almost dead-on images of Super Mario, Sonic the Hedgehog, and Mickey Mouse, and while these alone might not raise their corporate owners’ ire, here are some more compromising images I got of Mickey Mouse with just a bit of prompting:

Credit: Michelle Ehrhardt

I was even able to get a version of Mickey depicted as a member of the KKK, although I’ll hold off on posting it for your sake.

Still, it’s not a good look for a brand-new tool, and parents will want to be careful with their parental controls before handing their kid a Pixel 9. Using the tool more as intended, I found the images it created to be pretty boilerplate, and not really worth the carbon emissions.

Unfortunately, I feel the same way about Gemini Assistant, which while not exclusive to the Pixel 9 series, got some upgrades to coincide with its release. It’s supposed to be more context aware now, able to take information from your screen and use it in your responses, although I could never get this to work. More emphasized in ads is the new Gemini Live mode, which is exclusive to Gemini Advanced users and lets you carry on a conversation with a cloud-based and AI-powered voice. Pixel 9 Pro owners get a free year of Gemini Advanced with their purchase, so you’ll be able to try Live right out of the box.

I found Gemini Live to be friendly, but not that useful, since it mostly added an extra step between myself and information I could have found with a quick Google search. It needed frequent redirecting to keep it on the right track, and often cut out partway through talking, requiring another prompt before it continued. Hallucination was also rampant, with the bot saying things like “New Yorkers usually always carry an umbrella just in case” when I asked if it was going to rain today. Given that my friends and I got drenched twice this weekend, that’s either not true or we’re just a bunch of transplants in disguise.

The conversational tone was also a bit off-putting, and while I didn’t have any issues with the bot cutting me off, I didn’t love the overly friendly, PR-adjacent voice it took with me. I felt like I was being handled, being given nonsensical responses like “the tech team has fixed the issue” or “sorry, I lost connection” on occasions where Live became unresponsive and needed to be rebooted. Issues persisted, despite whatever “tech team” was being referenced, and my wifi was stable throughout, so the connection was probably not the culprit.

Overall, I’m still sad to hear that Google Assistant is on the way out, something Google emphasized during the Pixel 9 announcement. Gemini still can’t do simple things like adjust phone settings or set reminders, which Google Assistant has been able to do with ease for years. For what I actually use my phone to do, the more lightweight and basic standard assistant is easily the better pick.

A camera to beat the iPhone's

As hinted towards by its name, photos are another category where the Pixel series stands out. Camera upgrades this year are a bit more subtle, with rear camera megapixel counts matching the Pixel 8 Pro (50 MP wide, 48 MP ultrawide, 48 MP telephoto), but with improvements to autofocus. The selfie camera did get a noticeable bump, from 10.5 MP to 42 MP, but in practice, taking photos feels a lot better across the board, with shots being near indistinguishable from those taken on my iPhone 15 Pro—something I wasn’t confident saying with the Pixel 8 Pro despite that phone technically having better ultrawide and telephoto lenses.

To start, here’s some daytime shots taken at 12 MP across various zoom and lighting levels. Your phone will default to this level of quality to save storage space.

Credit: Michelle Ehrhardt

Credit: Michelle Ehrhardt

Credit: Michelle Ehrhardt

And here’s some taken at 50 MP, which you can turn on by tapping the cog in the camera app’s bottom-left corner, then the Pro tab, then the 50 MP icon under Resolution.

Credit: Michelle Ehrhardt

Credit: Michelle Ehrhardt

Credit: Michelle Ehrhardt

Credit: Michelle Ehrhardt

Shots are vivid and detailed: Close ups especially benefit from Portrait mode, while Night Sight brightens up the night sky. I found the latter to be generally helpful, but a bit artificial at times. This can be frustrating, since Night Sight does turn on automatically by default, but you can disable Automatic Night Sight by tapping the cog in the bottom-left corner of the camera app, and tapping the circle with a diagonal line through it under More light. You’ll still be able to use Night Sight manually by swiping to it in the camera app.

For comparison, here are some similar shots with my iPhone 15 Pro, with night shots in particular coming out much darker—although I am limited in how dark my testing can get by the general ambient light where I live.

Credit: Michelle Ehrhardt

Credit: Michelle Ehrhardt

Credit: Michelle Ehrhardt

And here are a few taken with my Pixel 8 Pro.

Credit: Michelle Ehrhardt

Credit: Michelle Ehrhardt

Overall, despite the mostly unchanged lens hardware, I found I had to do a lot less tweaking to get subjects to pop in frame this time around, likely due to this model’s upgraded sensors.

Performance still falters

Performance is the Pixel 9 Pro’s Achilles’ heel. Boasting the brand new Google Tensor G4, it still falls behind competing pro phone models in non-Google apps.

That’s because the Tensor series is built to power Google AI and other Google-developed experiences like Magic Editor, and for those, it works great. It also doesn’t get in the way of light tasks like browsing, but if you’re a gamer, or you edit video on your phone, you might notice some slight hiccups.

In the synthetic benchmark Geekbench 6, which gives a general idea of performance, I got a score of 1,924 on single-core tasks and 4,628 on multi-core tasks, which is just barely above the Pixel 8 Pro’s numbers and far below the 2,938/7,250 I got on my iPhone 15 Pro. Synthetic benchmarks can’t tell you everything, but it’s not a promising start.

To test out real world performance, I took the phone into Genshin Impact, a graphically demanding open-world game. Here, I was only able to get a smooth 60 fps when using the game’s lowest settings, which make what should be sumptuous 3D anime graphics look like borderline pixel art. Bumping the settings up dropped the fps to about 45–60, but also caused the phone to heat up quite a bit, with the maximum settings pretty quickly making it too hot to handle.

That’s a shame, as these results are about on par with what I got on the Pixel 8a, a budget model running last year’s chip. My iPhone 15 Pro, on the other hand, can play at high settings at 60 fps with little issue.

While the Pixel 9 Pro is not a gaming phone, the numbers here don’t paint a kind picture for other demanding apps. If you want to stay in the Android ecosystem but don’t see yourself using Google’s Pixel-exclusive software much, consider an alternate flagship like a Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra instead.

Battery life

Google promises that the Pixel 9 Pro has the same battery capacity and 24+ hour battery life as the regular Pixel 9, but in my testing, I haven't found that to be the case. After continuously streaming a 24-hour YouTube video at 720p to the Pixel 9 Pro at 50% brightness, I actually got about four fewer hours battery life on it as I did on the regular Pixel 9, for a total of 18 hours and 40 minutes.

That's still plenty for most people, and it's worth pointing out that I had disabled all battery saver features for this test. So what might explain the difference? Well, because the Pixel 9 Pro can get brighter than the regular Pixel 9, 50% brightness on it isn't quite equivalent to 50% brightness on the weaker phone, so it's probably it drew more power.

Still, if battery life is your biggest concern, it's worth opting for the bigger Pixel 9 Pro XL here, as that has a larger battery than either the regular Pixel 9 or smaller Pixel 9 Pro. (5,060 mAh vs, 4,700 mAh.) I can't give a hands-on recommendation for that model, as I haven't tested it, but on paper, it should be the longest lasting Pixel out there.

A brighter display

Before wrapping up, it’s worth touching on the slightly brighter display. While it still tops out at 120 Hz with the same HDR support and aspect ratio, its peak brightness has been upped from 2,400 nits to 3,000 nits, which I found I needed quite a bit. Maybe I’m getting older, but in direct sunlight, I had to put the brightness to about 93% before the screen really popped. Inside, I was able to get away with a more modest 65%.

That’s higher than I felt I needed on the Pixel 8a, so it’s likely my standards have just risen. This screen is definitely better than on prior models, capable of displaying more vivid colors with its doubled contrast ratio. If not for the small size, I could see myself watching whole movies on this, as I was tempted to do while watching a scene from The Super Mario Bros Movie.

Credit: Michelle Ehrhardt

Should you buy the Pixel 9 Pro?

Using the Pixel 9 Pro hardly feels different than using past models, but this is still a great way to get in on the Google flagship phone, which starts at the typical $999.

Part of the reason I haven’t picked up a Pixel for personal use is because of the size, as well as what I considered a pretty ugly camera bump. While the camera bump is definitely still noticeable, both of those issues are more-or-less solved now. The base Pixel 9 Pro feels like a massive improvement when just carrying the phone around in your pocket or having it out on a table.

The camera also definitely makes the Pro model worth it, even without much of an improvement with app performance. The specs are better on paper than most phones from companies not named Samsung, and Google’s post-processing takes the phone’s lenses that extra mile. It’s nice to finally have high-level Pixel cameras in a pocketable form factor.

The one worry I have about this phone is the AI. Google really wants Gemini to take off, for obvious reasons, but it continues to falter when stress tested. There’s some borderline irresponsible things you can do with the image generation, and as an assistant, Gemini still struggles with basics that Google Assistant had solved years ago. Longtime Pixel favorites like clear calling still work great here, but the Pixel 9’s newest AI offerings are not worth upgrading for.

That could put the Pixel 9 line in jeopardy with Apple Intelligence right around the corner, although even Apple doesn’t seem quite comfortable with AI yet, as it’ll reportedly be holding back several key features for next year.

With that in mind, the Pixel 9 Pro is probably a safe upgrade, as it’s likely to avoid being outclassed for a while. And if AI isn’t your cup of tea—I still can’t find more than situational use cases for it—this phone could work for you for years to come. It’s stylish, functional, and finally compact: everything a little rectangle for your pocket should be.

My Four Favorite Apps for Selling Used Clothing and Household Items

This week, I was greeted with beautiful mobile notifications: Two of my bags sold on Poshmark and one of my skirts sold on Vestiaire Collective. For a few months, I’ve been obsessed with selling my accessories and clothes on these apps. It’s a big part of the overall decluttering journey I’ve been on for the past year. A lot of the popular decluttering techniques ask you to sort your items into three categories—keep, throw, and donate—but by adding the fourth category of things to sell, I’ve been able to make a little extra money and, hopefully, make the day of some folks out there with the same sense of style I have.

Here’s what I’ve learned about the best apps and approaches. 

A few notes on reselling clothing online

There are sellers on these apps who do this in a hardcore way, sourcing cool, rare, or expensive items and turning them for a profit. You don’t have to be like that. I’m certainly not. Everything I sell is something I wore and enjoyed. Don’t worry about the profiles that feature professional-grade photos and hundreds of listings; someone out there who wants the thing you’re selling will find it by searching for it and it won’t really matter if you’re displaying the item on a mannequin in studio lighting as long as it’s the right size and price for the buyer. Here are my tips:

1. Don’t list something unless you’d actually want to get rid of it if it sold. That seems obvious, but this has happened to me: I’ll get a little overzealous, list something I still use, and feel sad when it gets bought sooner than I wanted it to. 

2. On the other hand, don’t list something if you really want it out of the house. You can’t determine how fast something will sell, even if you undervalue it in price and promote it on the apps every day. I have a shelf on one of my bookcases that is dedicated to the items that are waiting to be bought from my digital storefronts; it does take up space. If this impedes your decluttering, the apps might not be for you. Consider a brick-and-mortar consignment shop if the item is truly valuable or just donate it if you want it gone. The free space could be worth more than the money you’d get by waiting three months for the thing to sell. 

3. I still use my items while they’re listed on my apps, but be careful if you choose to do this, too. If something happens to a bag, like it gets a scuff or a stain, it reduces its value and you’ll have to update the listing at the very least. Don’t try to trick people by showcasing something in perfect condition, then sending it to them in worse shape. They can send it back, and this can have an impact on your seller rating. 

4. Take a lot of pictures. You don’t need fancy lighting or a backdrop, but I at least try to set my items on a nice rug and keep other stuff out of the frame. Take pictures from every angle, close-up photos of any damage, and a shot of the date stamp or serial number if it’s a luxury or high-end item. Tags, defining features, and details are important to include. (If you don't do this upfront, be prepared for potential buyers to ask for them later.) 

5. Be open to offers and respond to inquiries. Most of the time, you won’t get the price you ask for, at least not in my experience, but accepting reasonable offers or being willing to lower the price will help you get the thing out of your house.

6. Always search for the item you’re selling to see what other people are selling theirs for. If yours is a comparable quality, consider listing it for a little less than your competitors to get it sold faster.

7. If you list the same thing on multiple apps, stay on top of what you're doing. Last week, I sold a wristlet that I accidentally way undervalued on one app a day after listing it for its true value on another. I lost out on good money! Plus, if something sells on one app, you need to immediately remove its listing everywhere else. Otherwise, it could "sell" again, you'll need to cancel that order, and your seller rating may take a hit.

The best apps to sell clothes and accessories

Even though I only really got into this recently, I've done it off and on for a few years with less dedication. I recommend Poshmark, Vestiaire Collective, TheRealReal, and Depop. To me, these four have the best interfaces and are easiest to use for buying and selling. Let’s go over their details. 

Poshmark: Best for selling pretty much anything

When you sell on Poshmark, you keep 80% of your sales as long as they're over $15. For anything under $15, you pay the app a fee of $2.95. On this app, buyers can offer lower prices than what you’re listing your item for and you’re free to accept or decline their offers.

Declining gives you the chance to submit a counteroffer, so you may end up negotiating for a little bit, but the app always notifies you of what, exactly, you’ll make if you sell something at a certain price. The app also allows potential buyers to "like" items, enabling you to send private discount offers to all of a listing’s likers at once. Lowering the price of an item is easy, too, and you can share listings to “parties” that match your item’s description. For instance, Poshmark regularly hosts luxury bag parties, creating a landing page for shoppers looking for those, and I share my listings for bags to those parties when they’re happening.

If there’s a downside to Poshmark, it’s that you do need to be pretty active and engaged. Offers expire after 24 hours, you can only share listings to a party when the party is happening, and users expect timely responses to their comments. 

Credit: Lindsey Ellefson

Like I said, you can put anything on here. You can sell a Louis Vuitton bag or a Nike T-shirt. Some people sell housewares and handicrafts. I’ve bought a few Diptyque candles and once offloaded a Yankees bobblehead I accidentally acquired on a trip to the Bronx. If you want an app where you can sell everything, not just a certain kind of clothing, it should be Poshmark. 

In my experience, selling higher-end items on Poshmark is hit or miss. Yes, I've done it, but people on there are shopping for all kinds of things. I mostly buy baseball jerseys there and save my own luxury resale browsing for other apps. Poshmark doesn't authenticate designer goods the way other dedicated luxury apps do, so buyers are less confident and more likely to lowball you to make up for their lack of faith in your wares. If you have mid-tier stuff, like Lululemon, Uggs, or Skims, Poshmark is going to be especially handy for you.

Vestiaire Collective: Best for higher-end items to maximize profits

Vestiaire Collective is meant for higher-end items, which usually means luxury goods, but I’ve seen it include plenty of other quality stuff, like Gymshark. Where this one shines is its authentication process. Much of the time, items you sell will be shipped straight to VC, where a staffer will authenticate them and send them out to the buyer. This extra security is great, especially for really high-ticket items, and VC has low selling fees: You pay 5% on every sale, plus a 3% payment processing fee. You don’t get charged on your first one, either, as long as it’s below $2,000.

VC often runs specials, too, where where you'll pay no seller’s fees on certain brands, for example. Like Poshmark, buyers can send offers, but here, you have two days to accept, decline, or counter them, rather than one.

Credit: Lindsey Ellefson

Overall, this is my favorite app to use, both as a buyer and as a seller—but I avoided selling there for a while in favor of Poshmark because it does require a little more work than others to get your listing up. Still, it's worth it for the low fees and high yield.

Buyers on here are looking to spend on nice stuff, so you won't get lowballed often and items that wouldn't sell on a more mid-level app get way more attention. Selling on VC requires you to measure your bags, take more specific photos of items (including ones that clearly show brand labeling), identify the material your item is made of, and wait—sometimes, in my experience, up to two or three days—for the photos to be approved by a staffer. The nice thing is that the app suggests a price for your listing based on prices similar items in similar condition have sold at, so you don't have to guess.

One warning: VC makes you print your shipping label instead of scan a QR code at the post office, so make sure you do that before you box everything up.

TheRealReal: Best for fancier stuff you just want out of your house

TheRealReal is only for designer, luxury items, and it operates more like a consignment store than direct selling. How much you actually make depends on your “loyalty tier” at the time of sale, so if you’re just starting out, you get 55% commission on anything sold for more than $195. If you earn $1,500 in annual net sales, you move up to a new tier and earn more. You can also just fork your goods over to TRR in exchange for site credit and let them sell as they will. I won’t lie: It’s a little confusing, so only go with this one if you have really expensive items to sell that require authentication and can still bring in a hefty chunk of cash, even with fees. 

I use this app almost exclusively as a buyer, not a seller. Since TRR is in charge of the prices, a lot of really nice things inevitably go on a deep discount if they don't get sold quickly. If you want a quality piece that you can wear for a little and then resell, try looking here.

Credit: Lindsey Ellefson

Depop: Best for getting rid of anything you have, from mall finds to more luxe items

Depop is another site where you can sell anything. It can be fancy, it can be basic, it can be handmade—you can sell whatever. You don’t pay a listing fee, but you pay a 10% fee for everything you sell. That’s it. It’s super straightforward, and what’s also nice about Depop is that it helps you fill out the listing by populating suggestions based on your pictures and text inputs. This speeds up the process so you’re not spending five minutes on every listing, pulling brand names and sizes from drop-down menus. You can offer likers discounts and, like Poshmark and VC, field offers from potential buyers. 

Credit: Lindsey Ellefson

I've had success with Depop as a seller and a buyer, but it's definitely a crowded marketplace. I think of it more like a thrift store than anything. You can find fancy things, yes, but they're not authenticated and I've seen pages and pages of very obvious fakes (and, likely, less obvious fakes I didn't bother investigating), so beware. Also prominent are truly basic things, like Forever 21 tops. You may not think the fast-fashion, mall-bought shirts clogging up your closet are worth trying to sell, but you'd be surprised. Someone out there may want them, so try listing them on Depop before donating or tossing them. Set a hard deadline for yourself, though. If it doesn't sell in, say, two weeks, get rid of it another way. Again, selling is awesome, but not if it stops you from effectively decluttering.

Honorable mention: Facebook marketplace

I have never sold clothing or accessories on Facebook marketplace, but I do know it's possible. I see listings all the time while I'm browsing used furniture and knickknacks. Don't necessarily start listing there if you don't already use the app to sell other items, but keep it in mind as an option. On FB Marketplace, you can call a few more shots than dedicated clothing resale apps. Namely, you can sell "bundles." I see it constantly: "Bundle of 20 Forever 21 tank tops." "Bundle of 10 bikinis." If you have a lot to get rid of and are happy to bag it up and give it out for a smaller amount of money, this is a solid option. Plus, you arrange to hand it off locally instead of having to schlepp it to a post office or figure out shipping. It's an effective way to clear out clutter and get quick cash in hand.

You Can Use the New Google Photos Web App for Automatic Laptop Backups

When you think of Google Photos, what comes to mind first is most likely the mobile apps available for Android and iOS—but Google Photos is available on the web too, and that web app now has the rather useful ability to back up photos and videos directly from your Windows and macOS computer.

While most of your pictures and videos are likely being snapped on your phone, this desktop functionality means you can easily put photos from digital cameras, old hard drives, and wherever else into the cloud as well.

It's not the only way to sync photos and videos from Windows and macOS to Google Photos though: For a number of years now, Google has also offered a desktop client for Google Drive to keep your cloud files in sync with a folder on your computer, and this client also supports Google Photos.

Here's how you can use either method to back up your photos right from your computer or laptop.

Backing up photos and videos via the Google Photos web app

Backing up on the web. Credit: Lifehacker

First of all, the newer option: Backing up entire Windows or macOS folders through the Google Photos web app. This works in addition to the one-off upload tool previously been available in the web app, which lets you pick specific files from Windows or macOS to upload to the cloud.

The latest option lets you point Google Photos towards specific folders on your computer that then get backed up automatically—and anything new that's added to these folders gets put in the cloud without you having to do anything. However, it's not a true two-way sync: Deleting files in the specified folders won't remove them from Google Photos.

Google Photos will check the folders you choose for new files, and automatically back them up, whenever you have the web app open—so you need to remember to periodically open up Google Photos in your desktop browser so any new files can be transferred. (If you need something more persistent, check out the second option below.)

Here's how to set it up: From the Google Photos website, click Upload (top right), then Back up folders. Select the folder you want to add, then click View files to give the web app permission to access it. With that done, the backing up begins—you'll see a small dialog box on screen showing file transfer progress, and a notification when it's complete.

The folders won't appear in a separate section from the rest of your library; the photos and videos just get added to the general mix, so you then have to manually add them to specific albums if that matters to you. To add or remove folders, or to check the progress of backups that are underway, click Upload then Folder backup.

Backing up via the Google Drive desktop app

Backing up from the desktop client. Credit: Lifehacker

The Google Drive for Desktop app gives you another option for backing up to Google Photos (and Google Drive) from Windows and macOS. It can run all the time in the background, uploading photos and videos from selected folders automatically. With Google Drive included, you can back up files of other types too.

Head over to the download page for Google Drive for Desktop and find the right download for your operating system. Once it's installed, click on the app icon in the notification area (Windows) or on the menu bar (macOS), then click on the gear icon and choose Preferences. Click the name of your computer on the left to start choosing the folders you want to back up.

You've got two options when you add a folder. The first is Sync with Google Drive. This puts all the files in the folder (including photos and videos) in your Google Drive cloud storage. It also offers true two-way sync—if you delete something on your computer, it's deleted in the cloud too, and vice versa. It's useful for backing up important files to your Google Drive on the web.

The second is Back up to Google Photos. This only backs up the photos and videos in the folder, nothing else, and the sync isn't two-way—deleting photos and videos on your computer won't remove them from Google Photos. You can select both options if you want (though this will use up more of your Google cloud storage), or you can choose different settings for different folders.

You can always check which folders are being backed up from the desktop client, and make changes if necessary. Click the gear icon (top right), and you can choose whether images and video are uploaded in their full, original quality, or at a slightly reduced quality to save space (you can find more on this here). On macOS, there's also a checkbox to tell Google Photos to back up the main Apple Photos system library too.

Why Strava Is a Privacy Risk for the President (and You Too)

Strava is a hugely popular, and really nicely featured, running and cycling app. It’s my pick for the best running app, despite its flaws. But it’s always had serious privacy issues, including the one just reported by French newspaper Le Monde—it allegedly revealed the locations of world leaders via their bodyguards’ Strava accounts. 

The data goes beyond “the President is in Washington, D.C.” or “the President is in the White House.” Le Monde reports that it found “hotels and meeting places, often undisclosed to the public,” and noticed Vladimir Putin’s bodyguards frequenting the areas around two mansions that Putin has denied are his. The data also pointed to the whereabouts of Melania Trump, Jill Biden, and secret service agents working at the location of Donald Trump’s two recent assassination attempts. 

How Strava reveals users’ locations

Strava has an extensive set of mapping tools, which are powered by the data in its global heatmap. This is basically a map of the world with people’s running and cycling routes highlighted. If you, personally, right now, go out for a jog around the block, and track it with Strava (or with an app that syncs to Strava), the roads you jogged on get a little bit brighter on that heatmap. 

You can see the global heatmap here, although you’ll need a premium Strava subscription to view street-level data. (And, yes, it’s little bit fucked up that free users can add to the heatmap but not be able to see how their own data shows up to the world.) 

The heatmap (and other location-based data, like Segments) aren’t very intrusive if you’re looking at a popular park or trail. But zoom out to the countryside, or the suburbs, and you’ll notice some bright roads on the heatmap in very specific places. A loop around a certain housing development, or a military base. 

And how does that reveal the whereabouts of a specific, named person? Well, it’s very similar to how I used the weekly version of the heatmap to find the name and home address of a stranger based on semi-public Strava data. In my mini investigation—which took mere minutes—I found an unpopular route, looked for Segments along that route, found a person who had run it repeatedly, and looked at that person’s other running data. Combine that Strava data with other public information (in my case, county real estate records) and pretty soon I had worked my way from a line on a map to a person’s full name and home address. 

A creative investigator or stalker could come up with plenty more ways to use this data. Not everybody uses their real names or photos on Strava, but many do. And if a Strava account is always in the same place as the President, you can start to connect a few dots.

Why people use Strava anyway

Every time Strava privacy issues crop up in the news, there are people wondering why anybody wants to broadcast their location at all, or share their runs or their cycling routes. A big part of the reason is the same impulse that leads us to document our lives on TikTok or Facebook or anything else, the same reason we’ll randomly send a photo to a group chat about something cute our pet did. We like to share things with friends or people who might become friends. 

In Strava’s case, there’s more. You need to share the location of your runs (or cycling routes) to compete on the leaderboards it calls Segments. A Segment is a bit of road or trail, and you can get a CR (course record) or KOM/QOM (king or queen of the mountain) recognition for being the fastest person to cover that distance. There is also a Local Legend title for the person who has done that Segment the most times in the past 90 days. You have to actually get out into the world and physically go to that location to earn your title, which many people (including myself!) find motivating.

What you can do to preserve your privacy while using Strava

Strava has tons of privacy controls—maybe too many—to allow you to decide how much information you want to keep private. While it may be tempting to lock everything down, that leaves you out of the friendly competitions you may have on Segments, and can keep friends from finding you or following your training. It’s up to you how you feel about any or all of this, so here are the settings to check. 

First, to find these, go into the Strava app, select You, and tap the settings gear. Then tap Privacy Controls. Fortunately, each setting has a pretty good explanation of what it does, so read those carefully. If you’re doing this on the web interface, make sure to hit “save” after each change.

• To keep your activities from adding to the global or weekly heatmaps, tap Aggregated Data Usage and turn off the toggle or checkbox that says “Contribute your activity data to de-identified, aggregate data sets.” They may be de-identified in theory, but we’ve seen that they’re not really anonymous.

• To keep people from seeing your photos and personal information, restrict Profile Page to Followers. As Strava points out, “Parts of your profile page will always be publicly available.” In my tests, this seems to mean your name and profile pic.

• To keep people from seeing where you run or cycle, restrict Activities to Followers or Only You. This also means you won’t be able to compete on any Segments.

• To hide your house (or any other location you’d like to keep confidential), tap Map Visibility and select the option that allows you to hide the start and end of activities that occur from a specific address. You can also hide the start and end of activities no matter where they happen. 

There are more privacy settings, and we have a rundown of them here. 

Why You Should Video Your Lifts (and How to Do It Respectfully at the Gym)

I used to feel awkward and self conscious pointing a camera at myself at the gym. My thoughts went something like: I’m no selfie-obsessed influencer. What are people thinking of me? But I’ve had a change of heart: I now whip out my pocket-sized tripod to video myself at least once every workout, and my lifts are better for it.

If you lift at a gym, you've probably noticed people are filming their lifts more often these days. While some of them may be obnoxious TikTokers (and we'll talk about etiquette below), there are lots of good reasons to want to document what you're doing on video. You can evaluate your effort and technique, share the videos with a coach, or use the videos as a way of sharing your training with friends and internet gym buddies.

The benefits of taking video of your lifts

Before we get into how, let's talk about why. There are very good reasons to film yourself lifting.

Checking your form

If I'm working out alone, I video because I’m seeking some of the feedback I would otherwise get from an in-person coach. But even when my coach is right there, I still take video of my heaviest or most important lifts of the day. I can match the feedback he gives me (good or bad) to what I see in the video. I also have a record of the day's lifts that I'll be able to look back on later.

Better feedback than a mirror

It's also good to learn to use video for technique adjustments rather than looking in a mirror. While a mirror is fine for, say, bicep curls or lateral raises, you'll want to learn to lift without one if you have any interest in powerlifting, weightlifting, or crossfit (and those gyms almost never have mirrors.) Twisting your head to look at yourself can mess up your body position, and paying attention to how you look in the mirror can interrupt your focus. Not to mention, your perspective in a mirror changes as your body moves. You're not actually getting an accurate view of your squat depth with a mirror, but a good video will tell you the truth.

Gauging effort

A video also helps you gauge how you’re really feeling. Time slows down when you’re struggling: if a pullup takes more than a split second, it feels like hours. I pull, I struggle, I move barely a millimeter. Sometimes I’ll give up, or nearly give up, because it feels like I just can’t possibly complete the move. But then I’ll look at the video and see that my perceived hours of struggle were just a momentary slowdown on a rep that ends up being totally solid.

Even for something as subjective as RPE (rating your “perceived exertion”), video helps. I remember, years ago, getting feedback from my online coaches that my “RPE 8” deadlifts looked too easy. So I looked at other people’s RPE 8 deadlifts, and there was a clear difference in effort. Comparing my videos to theirs helped me dial in the effort level I was really going for.

How to take a good lifting video

Whether the videos are for you, for your coach, or just to show off for the ’gram, they’ll be most useful if you can get a good view of yourself.

Use a tripod

Propping your phone up on your water bottle may work in a pinch, but you can’t actually see much from a badly distorted video taken from a worm’s-eye view. (If there's a bench or chair available, put your phone and water bottle on that.) A selfie stick tripod like this one is ideal: it extends to about waist height and can stand by itself on the gym floor. It also collapses small enough to fit in your gym bag or even your sweatshirt pocket.

Erligpowht Extendable Selfie Stick

$14.99 at Amazon

$14.99 at Amazon

Shoot at a 3/4 angle

It’s tempting to take video from the side or from directly in front of you, but crucial information will be missing. A side view of your squat might show whether your thighs go parallel to the floor, but it won’t show whether your knees are caving in. For most lifts, a 3/4 view—not exactly from the side or the front, but somewhere in between—will give the most useful information.

For similar reasons, you’ll want to get your entire body in the frame. Especially if you’re showing your video to a coach or friend for a form check, they’ll want to see everything that might affect your lift—including, for example, your feet.

Check the lighting and position before you start

I use the forward-facing camera so that as soon as I step into frame, I can glance over and see that I’ve set everything up correctly. If there's a window behind you and you're backlit, or if you’re halfway off camera, fix it before you start your lift.

But once you begin, ignore the camera. Do your lift as you normally would—look in the mirror only if that’s what you always do—and then don’t look at the camera again until after you complete the lift.

Trim your dang videos

Nobody wants to watch 30 seconds of you adjusting the camera and psyching yourself up for your lift. Even if the video is just for yourself, you probably don’t want to watch that either.

You need to take a few minutes’ rest between sets anyway, so use that time to trim your videos. On iPhone, just begin watching the video, hit pause, and then hit Edit. You can trim the start and end of the video right from that screen, and then choose whether to overwrite the original file or save the trimmed version as its own copy. (Choose the new file if you think you might want to refer to your setup later; otherwise, trimming the original is fine.)

Gym etiquette when taking video

First, the big question: Yes, it is OK to film your lifts in a gym (unless the gym has a rule specifically forbidding it, of course). And no, people won't think you're weird—as long as you make sure to do so politely and respectfully. Here's how.

Keep others out of frame

As much as possible, position your camera so that other people aren't in the video (or at least not their faces). You definitely shouldn't post a video publicly with other people in it, but even if the video is for your private use, people may notice that they're on camera and feel weird about it.

Stay out of the way

Don't place your tripod in a busy walkway, or anywhere else you'd be getting in others' way. If you want to use an unoccupied bench to prop up your phone, that's OK—for a moment. Don't leave it there for your whole workout. And consider, again, using a tripod: A phone on the ground is a lot easier to miss, and accidentally trip over, than a tripod that's pretty obviously in somebody's walking path.

Using the gym takes precedence over filming

We've all seen those TikToks where somebody gets mad at a passer-by for walking into the frame. I'm convinced that most of those videos are faked (outrage gets engagement), but obviously you do not want to be that person. Working out in a space takes precedence over using your camera there. That said, if the place is busy, just communicate like a normal human being. I train at a gym where people commonly film themselves, and everybody is very friendly about making space for each other. Someone might even offer to share their tripod.

How the 'October Theory' Can Help You Reset Your Financial Goals

The idea of “October theory” is blowing up on TikTok, and the gist of it is simple: Fall symbolizes change and fresh starts, and it's a perfect time to reassess your goals and values. With fewer than three months left in 2024, it’s the perfect opportunity to check in on our progress and realign our financial goals in particular.

Like with "loud budgeting," "spaving," or "underconsumption core," the financial twist on October theory is yet another trendy term for something that's existed forever: being mindful with your money. As the seasons change, people feel especially introspective, making October an ideal time to reflect on the past year and reset financial habits.

How to reset your financial goals

Making financial adjustments in October allows people to gain momentum, set realistic goals, and start the new year with a sense of progress and accomplishment already in place. Instead of picking up new habits in January, "starting in October provides a head start and could make financial changes more sustainable in the long run," says Julie Guntrip, Head of Financial Wellness at Jenius Bank.

For those who have strayed far from their ambitious resolutions of 10 months ago, Guntrip lays out some actionable tips to get your financial goals back on track before the end of the year.

• Revisiting your budget could be a good idea to help ensure that your spending, saving, and debt repayment plans still align with your current financial circumstances. Tracking expenses regularly may allow you to spot new spending patterns and catch changes before they potentially become troublesome. Getting back on plan may help ensure you achieve your goals by year-end and potentially boost your confidence as you set goals in 2025.

• Creating an intentional holiday spending plan could also be a good idea. No one wants their financial goals for 2024, and potentially 2025, thrown off by out-of-control spending during November and December. Setting boundaries for year-end spending could help you end stronger and set yourself up for a solid kickoff to the new year.

• Paying off a small debt may help create a sense of accomplishment as you progress toward larger debt repayment goals. The debt avalanche method—paying down high-rate debt first—would typically be a recommended approach. However, the debt snowball method, which tackles the smallest debt balance for repayment first, might allow for a quick win in October. This could help develop momentum for good money habits in November and December and optimism for the new year.

• Revisiting your retirement contributions could be a smart financial move to ensure you’re on track for your long-term goals, especially if you’re trying to hit specific dollar amounts by year end.

How to finish this year strong

If you’re setting goals in the fall to achieve by Dec. 31, do yourself a favor and make them realistic, meaning something that you could actually accomplish in fewer than three months.

Guntrip says to start with identifying your money values: assessing how money impacts various areas of your life and articulating what matters most to you. Second, establish clear, prioritized financial goals that resonate with your values, such as paying off debt or saving for emergencies, and rank them by importance. You might even set a values-based budget. And third, set plans in motion to accomplish the goals using tactics like budgets, high-yield savings accounts, automated savings contributions, etc.

If you’re not exactly sure what your specific goals are, you can still "approach November and December with an intentional spending mindset," says Guntrip. For instance, plan spending for the holidays in advance, so that year-end purchases don’t leave you with extra credit card debt or drained savings. It’s a potential way to avoid exiting the holidays feeling behind or de-motivated for larger goals.

TikTok trends are far from perfect, but the underlying message is worthwhile: Making a change in October could help set you up for a strong finish to the year, making it easier to enter 2025 with your finances in better shape.

What People Are Getting Wrong This Week: The World Is Ending in 2025

Are you already planning out your 2025 resolutions? Not so fast—this tweet from The New York Post has been viewed over 15 million times:

This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.

Baba Vanga, a blind seer from Bulgaria, isn't alone in her prediction the End Times will start next year. French psychic Nostradamus also predicted a dire event will happen in Europe next year—at least according to The Times of India—and that was way back in the 16th Century!

With two of the top psychics of all time predicting the same thing, surely we should we all be cashing in our 401ks and telling our family how we really feel about them, right? No. No we should not be.

Who was Baba Vanga?

Born Vangeliya Pandeva Gushterova in 1911 in Bulgaria, Baba Vanga's early life was uneventful until she was 12, when a "tornado" supposedly lifted her into the sky and threw her into a nearby field. Vanga was blinded due to injuries from the incident, but after the loss of her sight, she began to make predictions and is said to have started healing people. By the 1940s, folks from all over Bulgaria were visiting Baba Vanga, mainly to ask her whether their relatives had died in World War II, and if so, where they'd fallen.

Vanga was taken seriously enough that the awesomely named Institute of Suggestology (part of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences) studied her throughout the 1960s and '70s, trying to prove she was more than just a weird lady. Vanga herself died in 1996 from breast cancer (which I assume she saw coming). Dead or not, Vanga's legacy lives on. She has a large number of followers in Bulgaria and North Macedonia, and especially in Russia.

The supposedly successful predictions of Baba Vanga

According to believers, Vanga accurately predicted the following:

• The rise of the Islamic State

• Princess Diana's death

• 9/11

• Global warming

• The 2004 Boxing Day tsunami

• The Chernobyl disaster

• Brexit

• Barack Obama's presidency

The problem with these (and all other) Vanga predictions, is that Vanga was either illiterate or semi-literate, so she didn't write anything down. Unlike Nostradamus, who published bizarre verses (and a recipe for cherry jelly) that are open to interpretation and mistranslation, all of Vanya's predictions are based on what people said she told them, after the fact. Someone who visited her once would be like, "She totally told me about Global Warming in 1967!" (Global warming was first posited in a scientific paper in 1896.)

Unlike most psychics, Vanga had the backing of real academics, particularly Georgi Lozanov. Lozanov's suggestology methods were studied by UNESCO and ultimately declared, "the most cultural integral and effective learning method" in Second Language Acquisition. But Lozanov also studied parapsychology and clairvoyance, neither of which stand up to scientific scrutiny. Still, being connected to an actual intellectual is the kind of clout a seer needs to live on in perpituity, and a desire to protect Lozanov's reputation could account for some of the post-hoc predictions.

It's not all after-the-fact stabs, though. Sometimes people, including Vanga's niece, have offered up predictions about the future that are supposedly from Vanga, like the one about the end times starting in 2025. While no one can say for sure that the end of the world won't start next year (at least not before we see who wins the U.S. presidential election next week), we can consider earlier Vanga predictions to see how she did.

Vagueness: The psychic's most reliable friend

In 2023, a full slate of Vanga predictions were released for 2024. Here they are:

• An attempted assassination of Vladimir Putin.

• A "big country" will conduct biological weapons tests or attacks.

• A global economic crisis.

• Terrifying weather events and natural disasters.

• A major breakthrough in quantum computing.

The more specific the prediction, the easier to debunk, so some of these are just vague gimmes—terrifying weather events happen every year, Vanga; that's just a weak-ass prediction. The rest of the list are things that would have seemed plausible to bet on for 2024, but they still didn't happen, unless we're in for a very eventual couple of months.

Even one correct prediction would have been enough to convince millions of Vanga's power; but even getting 0% right isn't likely to dissuade many people; there's always next year.

The unsuccessful predictions of Baba Vanga

When Vanga predictions are more specific, the hit rate goes way down. Here are some notable misses:

• Isis did not invade Europe in 2016.

• Barack Obama was not the last president of the United States (sadly)

• Aliens did not land on earth in 2023 and start a war with Humanity.

• World War III did not begin in 2010, nor end in 2014.

There's more, but you can probably see a pattern: Whenever a Vanya follower gives a specific date in the future, it turns out to be wrong. You'll see this same pattern with Nostradamus, not to mention all other people who say they can predict the future. Because no one, not even blind Bulgarian ladies or mysterious French astrologers from the 1500s, can actually see the future, because the future hasn't happened, so there isn't anything to see.

How the world will end starting in 2025, according to Baba Vanga

Just for fun, here's the timeline of future events, according to Baba Vanga:

• 2025: A conflict in Europe will devastate the continent's population.

• 2028: Humanity will begin to "explore Venus as an energy source."

• 2033: The polar ice caps will melt, raising sea levels to drastic heights worldwide.

• 2076: Communism will spread to countries across the world.

• 2130: Humans will make alien contact.

• 2170: A drought will devastate much of the world.

• 3005: Earth will go to war with a civilization on Mars.

• 3797: Humans will have to vacate the Earth because it's become uninhabitable.

• 5079: The world will end.

How the world will end, according to me

Unlike Baba Vanya and Nostradamus, I can accurately predict the end of the world. You see, I was knocked over by a Toyota Corolla in 1994, and I awoke with the ability to look into all personal futures. Put your hand on the screen so I can read your aura and we will begin:

I see something; something dire! It's the end of the world! And it's coming soon! Sometime in the next 60 or maybe 80 years, everything will go dark and the world will end—for you, specifically. Probably in a hospital room surrounded by disinterested nurses assistants.

Please reach out in 2084 (or later) to let me know if I was right.