UX is a strong signal of intent

Google had an app for photos and videos. It was called Picasa. Google bought it in 2004. I stopped using it in 2016, when Google killed Picasa and pushed Google Photos hard.

Google Photos is not intended for organizing memories. Rotating mis-oriented photos requires network calls. Network calls introduce friction through delay, degrading the experience of core tasks in photo management like rotating an asset.

Google Photos has never had an app that manages locally stored photos and videos. So while Picasa could instantaneously rotate one's files, that's not possible with Google Photos.

Google Photos makes the experience of uploading media to cloud storage dead simple. That signals its maker's intent to collect its users' photos and videos.

Apple Photos has signals too. The local storage makes rotates instant. Full local storage is optional but it's the default iirc; and you can choose to free up storage by letting the app selectively downloading from iCloud.

But why can't I use existing two finger gestures on touchscreens to rotate a photo? Instead, it's 3 button taps minimum to rotate. And bulk rotation isn't even possible on iOS or iPadOS. So I must use macOS where I can multi-select and use an easy keyboard shortcut to rotate. Could it be, this maker's intent is to sell its suite of devices to each user?