Facebook Tests Photo Magic To Make It Easier To Tag Friends, Family Members

Facebook is currently testing "Photo Magic," a new feature which can recognize a friend's face in a user's camera and will ask if the user wants  to share photos with those people in the picture through Messenger.

Messenger Head David Marcus confirmed the news on his Facebook wall Monday night. "This is one of our upcoming features I'm really excited about as it's still way too difficult to share photos with friends, and receive all the ones you're in," he wrote.

It will be a part of Facebook Messenger and Photo Magic intends to help people find old pictures and share them with people who are in them. This also means that all photos on a person's phone will be processed on Facebook servers as users need to let Messenger see their pictures so Photo Magic can work on them.

Facebook Photo Magic uses facial recognition tech used for suggesting photo tag. It is being tested in Australia earlier this week for US users soon, reported ABC News. It will be initially available on Android in Australia. If it proves popular, it will be rolling out widely, the Independent said.

On Android, Facebook's Photo Magic scans the photos once they are taken and notify the user if they want to share it. It does not work that way with Apple's iOS as the platform is more restrictive on how often an app can see pictures.

There is an option provided though for Facebook users who do not want to be recognized. On their timeline, they can turn off the tag suggestions on tagging settings.

Photo Magic is part of Facebook's intention to keep its 700 million plus Messenger users to engage through the service. Messenger has been recently updated so users can message with businesses and do "message requests."

Marcus said, a new feature will make it easier for users to connect with anyone while giving the receiving party more control options for the message they want to accept.