Pixel Camera Services

byteidjaiao

I am just looking to understand why this comes under System Apps pre-installed with Network permissions provided by default? I thought the idea of Graphene was to let others decide what permissions are given to which app or service?

Just looking to understand this correctly. Any guidance is much appreciated.

Murcielago

byteidjaiao

Pixel Camera Services

am just looking to understand why this comes under System Apps pre-installed with Network permissions provided by default?

Not exactly understanding what you're referring to with Pixel Camera Services.

Only the GrapheneOS Camera app comes preinstalled.

You could install Google Pixel Camera, if you want.

See: https://grapheneos.org/usage#pixel-camera

But this is optional and you can revoke its network permission.

Or are you referring to Google Play services and Google Play Store?

These apps also aren't preinstalled - you only install them if you want to use
Sandboxed Google Play.

Murcielago

with Network permissions provided by default?

Forgot to mention: When you install a new app there's always a pop-up-dialogue with a checkbox where you can revoke network permission on install (if you inadvertently gave it permission you can still revoke it later under long press app App info> Permissions> Network).

Note that it's not advised to revoke permissions from system apps as this is a known source of problems.

byteidjaiao

Murcielago

Just to confirm what I'm referring to is

Apps > See all apps > Pixel Camera Services.

This comes bundles with the OS?

nologo

Here's an explanation from the GrapheneOS account: https://discuss.grapheneos.org/d/27554-will-the-grapheneos-camera-ever-reach-the-quality-of-the-pixel-camera/32

byteidjaiao

nologo Thanks. I just found it odd and I was looking for an explanation /understanding. Still weird that it's given network not sure why it needs that...

Murcielago

byteidjaiao

Sorry, then I misunderstood what you were talking about.

Not directly answering but maybe a good starting point, as already pointed out by nologo

GrapheneOS already has Pixel Camera Services installed as part of the HAL but it's signed with our key which means you can't install an upgrade from the Play Store. It's updated as part of our OS updates incorporating the stock OS Pixel hardware support changes. We don't revoke any access to the TPU but rather provide a global toggle for the relevant Google apps for whether they can use the private TPU APIs. It doesn't provide any additional access to data or control over the device, just more direct access to hardware acceleration rather than only through the standard APIs for other apps to use. We enable the toggle by default so apps such as Pixel Camera work as well on GrapheneOS as they do on the stock OS by default.

source: https://discuss.grapheneos.org/d/27554-will-the-grapheneos-camera-ever-reach-the-quality-of-the-pixel-camera/33

byteidjaiao

I get what that post you've referenced is saying in essence, but at the same time the whole point of the operating system is that the user is in control of what permissions are allocated. It's slightly concerning over time that the system apps keep popping up with default permissions given like Network and Sensors.

byteidjaiao

Thanks for the help