- By default, Google disables selfie retouching in the camera app for new pixels.
- The move aims to improve users’ mental health and self-image.
- The selfie retouch function now explains which functions should be edited.
By default, Google disables selfie retouching on its new Pixel smartphones. Starting with the Pixel 4a, Pixel 4a 5G, and Pixel 5, the camera app now also offers more information for those who use this feature.
The latter is being guided through an upcoming update that will give users icons and labels that explain what retouching features the app wants to use and why. With this update, the app also describes the selfie functions that are to be optimized, for example “skin structure, tone under the eyes and eye brightness”. The user can then choose whether to accept these reworks or to carry them out with the snap as is.
The move aims to give users better visibility with an unchanged view of themselves, says Google. This in turn supposedly promotes better mental health. “These standard filters can quietly set a standard of beauty that some people compare themselves to,” the company adds.
It’s a minor tweak to how the camera app works on Google’s phones, and not an attempt to trap users using filters, but rather should give those who just want to take a selfie more control over the process.
It’s unclear if the retouching changes will reach other pixels and the camera app on other phones. The feature doesn’t seem to be necessarily related to new hardware on the new Pixel phones, so we wouldn’t be regulating the update heading for other devices with camera apps in the future.
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