Incomplete Featureset in Google Photos?

ketchup991

Installed Google photos on my pixel 7 pro. Unblur and some other tools are missing. Magic eraser is still there though.

The HDR slider is also missing under edit. Photos taken with gcam.

Other then that my experience with grapheneos has been flawless.

IamDaedalus

Yeah I noticed this on my Pixel 4a as well
I don't have blur background, portrait lighting or any of the options I used to have on my stock installation. Please lemme know when you figure it out

Thanks

MrMToad

I'm pretty interested in that topic too! Tried to play around with permissions for Google Play Services and the Photos app, but it didn't do anything.

MrMToad

MrMToad Pixel 7

MrMToad

Okay, I got all features now! Just granted each and every permission to the Photos app and Google Play Services, then Unblur appeared in the editor. Afterwards I removed all permissions except for photos&videos and so far it's still there 😁

free23

MrMToad yeah it was just network permissions for me, let it have network access, poked around for a while and tried editing some pictures until it showed up then blocked network access and it's all good now. Same with cinematic blur in the camera app.

spiral

Sweet, allowing Network permissions for maybe 10 seconds worked for me too, thanks everyone

E24

I gave it network and magic eraser is there but nothing else.

PjMuffin

I had to give it Network access, then I went to Tools in the app and it gave me a prompt:
"Install more editing tools?" It was a 190mb download.
I waited for it to download and install, heaps of tools got added.
Removed network permission and rebooted phone.
New tools remained.

I wonder if we may need to periodically give it network access to update the tool versions.

E24

PjMuffin what permissions did you give the app and did you have any play services or anything like that?

Murcielago

E24 I have installed the Google Camera app and Google Photos (for editing pictures) in a profile in which GSF, Google Play services and Google Play Store are running anyway. However, Google Camera and Google Photos seem to run without GSF, as stated here.

Permissions I give to Google Camera: Camera, Microphone (each: ask ervery time), Sensors (for portrait or landscape).

Network only needs to be enabled from time to time, e.g. when new features need to be loaded (e.g. Audio Eraser, Unblur, Magic Eraser).

E24

Murcielago I've given photos network for awhile and poked around but the only tool that is there is magic eraser

PjMuffin

I found out today there is a separate app called "Pixel Camera services" which is available on the Play Store.

Installing this app, then opening up Google Photos may add the extra tools.
If not you can give temporary access to Google Photos for it to update the tools then remove the Network access again.
This added the extra tools for me and they remained after removing network access.
I also removed the storage scopes before giving Google Photos network access.

E24

PjMuffin I tried it and some new stuff in the camera app showed up but nothing for photos.

Are certain features locked to the US? Do I need to give location access for a few minutes

newperson

Sometimes giving network permission to get new features is pointless right? Im under the impression to either always or never enable network access, since apps can queue network packages for when connected right?

E24

newperson for me I only have magic editor and can't figure out how to download any other tools. It may just be because I don't have any Google services

Murcielago

I changed my setup some time ago and installed Pixel Camera (formerly: Google Camera) and Google Photos in a profile without Google services.

The only available tool for me (even after allowing network access for some time) in Google Photos remains the Magic Eraser.

In my former setup (profile with all three Google Services) I was able to use features like Unblur, Portrait Blur (I forget what else was available) after allowing network access.

I can't say whether the lack of features is due to an update of the app or the lack of Play (that would be my guess).

Murcielago

I've just set up and tested it again in two different profiles:

Profile 1 (Sandboxed Google Play)
Profile 2 (without GSF, GPS and Play Store)

Profile 1: The workaround described here with short-term network access works fine.

Profile 2: Workaround does not work. The only available tool under Edit>Tools remains beeing Magic Eraser.

So the reason seems to be the missing of Sandboxed Google Play.