sugseg52

Blur option should be available regardless if the picture was taken in Portrait mode or not.

I see. Interesting to know - for me, the blur option is only available if I) the photo was taken in Portrait mode and II) the photo contains a face. I wonder why.

I know some functions are initially missing in the Google photos app if you don't allow network access. You need to grant Google photos and play services internet permission for maybe 20 seconds and it will update the feature set. It's also explained in this thread here in the forum. I had some issues with this as well but works perfectly now without Google photos nor GSF having internet access.

Thank you for pointing that out. This doesn't work for me unfortunately. I have granted internet access but it doesn't update the feature set. I don't have play services or service framework installed. Maybe that's the reason why it doesn't work on my phone.

    sugseg52 I would try installing GSF, Play Services and Play Store, then install Google Camera/Photos and leave the network permission on those and see if you can get the options.

    You can do this in a separate user profile to test, if you don't want to commit to it in the profile you're currently using.

    Thank you for these further suggestions. Installing all the Google services and granting internet access for a short time indeed did activate blur options in Google Photos. I have uninstalled all Google services afterwards and it seems the blur features stays.

      Folks, this worked for me too - thanks a lot for the solution!

      One thing to note - the Photos app will NOT download the required components if on mobile internet (searching for the issue on the web revealed its an expected behavior for the app, its the way Google coded it). So make sure you are on wifi connection. Once on wifi, the Photos app will download the required components properly (if you enable notifications for photos app, you will see the notification saying its updating the app).

      18 days later

      sugseg52

      Installing all the Google services and granting internet access for a short time indeed did activate blur options in Google Photos. I have uninstalled all Google services afterwards and it seems the blur features stays.

      Did you have to log into the Play store or could you do this activation anonymously?