Adamya Sharma / Android Authority
TL;DR
- Google has changed the name of the Google Camera app.
- It is now called Pixel Camera to highlight the app’s exclusivity to Pixel phones.
It’s no doubt that the Pixel flagships are some of the best photography phones you can buy. A large part of the success of Pixel phones as imaging devices is thanks to the Google Camera app, and the company wants you to know, now more than ever, that you can only find it on Pixel phones. Over the weekend, Google quietly remained Google Camera to Pixel Camera.
Apart from the name change, the description of the Pixel Camera app also now highlights new features such as Cinematic Blur. There’s a separate section in there for Pixel 8 Pro exclusive camera features like 50MP high-res photos and Pro controls.
The requirements for the app have also been reworked. The Play Store listing for Pixel Camera states that “the latest version of the app only works on Pixel devices running Android 14 and above.”
The version Google is referring to here is the recently rolled-out v9.0, which has separate toggles for photo and video modes, apart from other new features. The Pixel 8 and 8 Pro get an even newer version of the app — v9.1 — with more UI changes and controls.
The listing further states that the latest version of Pixel Camera for Wear OS only works on Wear OS 3 and above devices connected to Pixel phones.
