Nik Software, creator of the Snapseed imaging app, has been acquired by Google, although terms of the deal were not disclosed.

In a blog post, Vic Gundotra, Google’s SVP of Engineering, said: “We want to help our users create photos they absolutely love, and in our experience Nik does this better than anyone.”

Nik Software said: “We’ve always aspired to share our passion for photography with everyone, and with Google’s support we hope to be able to help many millions more people create awesome pictures.”

Unsurprisingly, the move was compared with Facebook’s US$1 billion acquisition of image sharing app Instagram, although it is likely to be a much smaller deal.

Rather than being specifically Android-focused, it is believed that Google has bought the company to improve the imaging features of its Google+ social networking service.

Established in 1995, Nik recently said it had passed the nine million user mark for Snapseed in the twelve months since it launched for iPad and iPhone. A version for Android devices is promised “soon”, as well as Mac OS and Windows computers.

The company also makes a range of imaging software products for desktop computers.