Gcam services broke.

adiosvr

Hello community,

A new Graphene OS user. Posting this issue as I couldnot find a good solution for this. Appreciate any assistance.

Problem
My Native Graphene OS camera has started capturing really pixelated pictures. The pixel camera app installed from Aurora app keeps crashing.

What did I do?

I have pixel 9 pro. I don't have any Google related framework running on the main profile. In this profile, I installed Pixel camera app. It was running great.
But for some random reason, I wanted to experiment with gcam service provider coz the image preview on pixel app was not connect to the gallery app. It was asking me to install Google photos from playstore.
So I went to fdroid and installed the gcam services. It never installed successfully. https://apt.izzysoft.de/fdroid/index/apk/com.google.android.apps.photos
Now, when I open pixel camera app it crashes with the following error. At the same time, native pixel camera opens but shoots pixelated photos. My best guess, based on the error below, is that the gcam services I tried to install were old, and have replaced the latest module, resulting in the nullpoint exception and pixelation. Any ideas on how do I revert back without resetting my entire phone? :

type: crash
osVersion: google/komodo/komodo:14/AD1A.240905.004/2024101200:user/release-keys
package: com.google.android.GoogleCamera:66480026
process: com.google.android.GoogleCamera
processUptime: 242 + 220 ms
installer: com.aurora.store

java.lang.RuntimeException: java.lang.NullPointerException: Attempt to invoke virtual method 'boolean com.google.googlex.gcam.Gcam.f()' on a null object reference
	at lew.run(PG:61)
	at dtd.run(PG:10)
	at android.os.Handler.handleCallback(Handler.java:959)
	at android.os.Handler.dispatchMessage(Handler.java:100)
	at android.os.Looper.loopOnce(Looper.java:232)
	at android.os.Looper.loop(Looper.java:317)
	at android.app.ActivityThread.main(ActivityThread.java:8623)
	at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Native Method)
	at com.android.internal.os.RuntimeInit$MethodAndArgsCaller.run(RuntimeInit.java:580)
	at com.android.internal.os.ExecInit.main(ExecInit.java:50)
	at com.android.internal.os.RuntimeInit.nativeFinishInit(Native Method)
	at com.android.internal.os.RuntimeInit.main(RuntimeInit.java:369)
Caused by: java.lang.NullPointerException: Attempt to invoke virtual method 'boolean com.google.googlex.gcam.Gcam.f()' on a null object reference
	at fss.get(PG:66)
	at pxh.get(PG:1)
	at gdr.a(PG:2)
	at flu.get(PG:12)
	at pxh.get(PG:1)
	at fnf.get(PG:22)
	at pxh.get(PG:1)
	at jwq.get(PG:11)
	at pxh.get(PG:1)
	at gjf.get(PG:12)
	at pxh.get(PG:1)
	at pxg.get(PG:2)
	at dwo.d(PG:2)
	at dwo.a(PG:1)
	at eaj.run(PG:34)
	... 11 more

other8026

adiosvr try adding a Pixel device to the "spoof manager", then try reinstalling Pixel Camera. Aurora may have installed the wrong version.

adiosvr

other8026 Thanks for replying. I don't think thats the case. Actually, I have Pixel device already added in the spoof manager. It worked fine the first time I installed, before I think I installed wrong version of open Gcam services. Now I don't know how to revert it.

matchboxbananasynergy

adiosvr gcam services is not required in GrapheneOS, hasn't been for years at this point. You can simply install Pixel Camera and have it work.

adiosvr

matchboxbananasynergy thats where I think I messed up. When I installed gcam services, its screwed up something. Now, when I do try to install pixel, it just crashes and I get the pasted error log (above) as the output.

DeletedUser87

adiosvr as a last resort, you may want to check if any leftovers from your installation attempts are still there. First, go to Settings -> Apps -> All (number) apps and look through the list if there's anything relating to GCam. If there isn't anything, try clearing the storage of the Pixel-Camera-Services app (it's a system app which appears when you hit the 3 dots in the upper right corner and then 'show system apps'). And restart the phone after that to make sure everything takes effect.

adiosvr

DeletedUser87 thanks a lot for this suggestion! I just tried all of this and still the issue persists. I don't know what this gcam function is that got messed up :( Frustrating coz even though I am okay with just sticking to the stock app, all the pics now are very grainy. And I took so many days to set my phone up. :( Is there a way to reset core libraries without loosing all the apps and app level configuration?

DeletedUser87

adiosvr if you check your installed apps in F-Droid, does "Gcam Services Provider (Photos)" appear in your installed apps?

adiosvr

Nah. Its no longer there :(

DeletedUser87

adiosvr maybe it should be, at least it is for me - and I haven't done any modifications to my setup. Can you search for the app and install it through F-Droid? It's a wild guess, but better to try before resetting the phone...