Volen

As already discussed, the root cause is that Google Camera does all the processing on its own and uses special SELinux domain for hardware acceleration. That SELinux domain is removed in GOS for security reasons.

It is removed because we don't give special privileged access to Google apps. It would only be possible to do it behind a special toggle which is not planned since nearly everything works fine without it. Portrait mode on 7th generation Pixels is the only thing there have been complaints about and they're working on fixing it in Google Camera.

GOS camera (and any other 3rd party camera) are using the same (restricted) API that lacks all the processing Google Camera offers hence the quality is not comparable. It doesn't matter what 3rd party Camera app we will use - they all use the same API so the quality will be more or less the same (and not good vs Google Camera).

This is completely wrong. Google Camera on the stock Pixel OS has no special access to any additional camera APIs. Other apps can provide the same features and quality. Features and quality vary quite a lot across apps. There is no special magic in Google Camera that's unavailable to others in terms of features and quality. The only special access it has is to hardware acceleration features for more quickly doing the processing when treated by the OS as a specifically privileged app.

GrapheneOS Camera provides hardware accelerated HDR+ on Pixels via the standard Camera2 APIs since the OS and hardware implement it. Google Camera implements their own comparable HDR+ although they have more control over it, meaning they can adjust it to be more aggressive in low light conditions. HDR+ provided by the OS can and should do that too, and they're working on improving it to match Google Camera in all conditions. Night mode, Portrait mode, etc. will be provided via CameraX extensions via the OS in the future. There won't be any special access required to use them, because the OS camera service will implement them itself. Google Camera will almost certainly continue doing it separately in the short term. In the long term, they may move most of the features into the OS instead of doing the processing in Google Camera and only needing the APIs needed to obtain the data in the OS.

Currently, Google Camera is really slow in processing images, especially, portrait pictures or when taking multiple pictures at once.

GrapheneOS Camera provides hardware accelerated HDR+ on Pixels via the standard Camera2 APIs since the OS and hardware implement it. It will have hardware accelerated Night and Portrait modes on Pixels when those CameraX extensions are available. This is our focus.

    @Volen We are not going to make Google Camera into a specially privileged app by default. It works without the special privileges and therefore we also can't approach it in the same way we did with the privileged eSIM activation app. Many and perhaps even most users will want to use it without special privileges. We cannot remove that option.

    It's would be entirely possible to add a toggle for privileged Google Camera access. It would have to be cleanly implemented and very uninvasive to be accepted as a GrapheneOS feature and it's not an ideal solution. It was never a significant issue on any previous Pixels so it was never on our radar as something worth implementing. There's only a significant impact on Portrait mode on the Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro. It still works and still provides the same quality without the privileged access. This means only a small number of users have even noticed that there's an issue. You've been making it sound as if the app doesn't work at all.

    Your approach to complaining about this issue is becoming a serious problem. You're making significant exaggerations and are spreading misinformation about GrapheneOS. Repeatedly asking people to file more issues and to bother us about this is particularly inappropriate. We're not going to allow this to continue.

    Google Camera would ideally be able to use standard hardware acceleration APIs for everything instead of needing special privileged access for certain functionality. They're working on improving it and have made it a lot better already.

    Perhaps a significant number of people want there to be a toggle for privileged Google Camera access, in which case it may make sense to add it, but we have far too many much higher priorities to address... so unless you or something else is going to contribute instead of complaining, it's unlikely to happen any time soon.

      GrapheneOS

      Thanks for the detailed explanation - as I am not a developer (unfortunately) I don't have much insights on how the apps work so some of my statements might be not as accurate. I also never sent any requests about this, only opened this thread to discuss. However, I did notice some people opened tickets about this on github but its not relevant to me.

        GrapheneOS You've been making it sound as if the app doesn't work at all.

        Please point to the statement that makes you believe I am saying the app doesn't work at all. I am saying the app is slow in processing in Portrait mode and that it freezes when taking multiple pictures in a row (which other fellow members confirmed too in this thread) - nowhere in my comments I said that the app is not working.

        GrapheneOS Your approach to complaining about this issue is becoming a serious problem. You're making significant exaggerations and are spreading misinformation about GrapheneOS. Repeatedly asking people to file more issues and to bother us about this is particularly inappropriate. We're not going to allow this to continue.

        Where did you see me "spreading misinformation", what misinformation, exactly? There is not a single post by me on this forum where I am spreading misinformation. If anything, I always say that GOS is a great OS, I am always thankful to developers and helping fellow members as much as I can. And I am actually thinking about GOS's good reputation, suggesting that the FAQ section can be changed so that prospective Pixel 7 buyers will know about this current issue before buying as otherwise they can buy the device and then say the FAQ is misleading as their camera app is not working as expected (working as expected means all the features are working as in stock OS). This is something other forum members agreed with me too.

        Nowhere in my comments I asked people to fire more issues - I only pointed to the existing github issue someone already created (and that issue is now closed) and to the SR opened on Google. I never opened github issues and was only discussing this issue in this thread. If someone decided to fire up a ticket, it

        GrapheneOS Perhaps a significant number of people want there to be a toggle for privileged Google Camera access, in which case it may make sense to add it

        This is exactly what I was saying on this thread. I never opened a ticket nor discussed this issue outside of this thread.

        Also, if people are firing up issues, then its a clear indicator that there are many affected users.

              9 days later

              matchboxbananasynergy
              Ahh OK, so I'm trying to catch up with this thread. Does the Google camera not have access to the proper hardware that a stock pixel would have?

              I do know that installing google camera via sandboxed play store does have extra features than down loading from apk mirror. I always assumed that it would have the same access but I've never used the google camera with a stock pixel

                So my friend has a pixel 7, stock. I asked him to take multiple photos and it locked him out too while it processed the photos

                Well, regardless, with this change, GrapheneOS won't differ in any way from how Stock OS handles this, and people can enable/disable the toggle as they see fit.

                If people continue having issues, they'll need to wait for Google to address that. GrapheneOS has done its part.

                  matchboxbananasynergy to be fair I'm just really happy with graphene. Its come on so far, and being able to use google play store now has made the phones practical for everyone. My gf and my elderly mother use the gos pixels without any issues what so ever

                    5 days later

                    The release is now in the alpha channel. The toggle that controls direct TPU/GXP (the latter only being relevant to 7th gen Pixels) access is enabled by default, so if you want the best performance, you shouldn't need to do anything.

                    If for whatever reason you want to disable it, you should be able to find it in Settings > Apps > Special app access under "Special access to hardware accelerators for Google apps".

                      matchboxbananasynergy thanks for the swift and informative reply.

                      If the option is in the owner profile , but the google camera app is in the user profile, will this acceleration still work in the user profiles

                        Wow, I really didn't expect this to be fixed! Thanks so much \o/

                        a year later

                        matchboxbananasynergy
                        Thank you for this! Quick question on how this work, would this toggle enable it for any application, is this on bundle name? 'com.google.android.GoogleCamera'?

                        Reason why I'm asking is because I like to tinker with Gcam to unlock additional features, those typically have bundle names like:

                        • com.google.android.GoogleCameraEng
                        • com.samsung.android.ruler
                        • com.agc.gcam92
                        • org.codeaurora.snapcam
                        • com.samsung.agc.gcam92
                        • com.ss.android.ugc.aweme

                        And I found this thread whilst searching for reasons why my gcam ( com.google.android.GoogleCameraEng) seems slow. Thanks!