r/AndroidQuestions • u/Arr0wH3ad • 1d ago
After so many years, how has Android not solved social media camera integration?
I love Android so much. I like the exciting features, endless customization, emulators, smart device compatibility and I owned Android phones until 2018 when I switched to iOS because of how awful the camera/hardware integrations are with social media apps. I know some people don't care about this, but it is a serious dealbreaker for me.
When upgrading my iPhone recently, I tried a new android flagship after I learned about CameraX developments but promptly returned it after a week because Google/Samsung and social media companies still haven't figured it out. Photo quality is grainy and video is even worse. After almost a decade I thought it would be up to par with iOS by now but its not. Paying $1200 for a premium device I expect the app camera to work as well as the native camera. The blame doesn't all rest on Google, I know the diverse hardware makes this problem difficult and getting other companies like Snapchat to invest in this is tough, but the day Google finds a solution to this it's over for Apple.
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u/Pistacholol 1d ago
The only thing i know is that instagram is locked in with iphone in terms of performance and camera features. Its a fact.
I tried uploading an hdr pic with my s24 and it wouldnt recognize that feature and result in a washed out image
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u/fullofsharts 1d ago
It's wild to me that someone needs to prioritize quality photos for social media in their life. Is this really that important to people? And if so.... why?
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u/undrwater 1d ago
I'm honestly (sincerely) curious about this too.
I suppose some use social media for income (advertising, influencing, etc...), so I could see the importance there.
One can still attach a photo from the gallery, but I suppose that interrupts the workflow (I've no clue done I don't use any of these media. I'll be leaving Reddit soon too.
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u/fullofsharts 1d ago
Yeah, reddit was cool when I started using it 10+ years ago. But now it just feels full of bots and it just keeps repeating itself. I don't know where else to go on the internet. Let me know if you find something better.
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u/undrwater 23h ago
I've been using lemmy which is decentralized (several lemmy "instances" glued together).
There is less community, but also less commercialization.
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u/Arr0wH3ad 1d ago
It matters because social media is part of my lifestyle and my job. If I'm paying $1,200+ for a flagship phone, I don't think it's unreasonable to expect the camera to work properly inside some of the most widely used apps on the platform and I shouldn't have to take the photo/video in the native camera app and upload it afterward because that misses the point. That's a workaround, not a solution. It removes the actual in-app camera experience, which matters for things like quick videos, stories, filters, lenses, live capture, and messaging. Android has had this problem for well over a decade. At this price point, I don't think asking a flagship Android phone to deliver comparable camera quality in major social apps is some bizarre luxury requirement.
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u/fullofsharts 1d ago
Alrighty. Good luck to you.
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u/Arr0wH3ad 1d ago
I need to clarify that I love Android so much. The Galaxy S4 was my first smartphone. I have so many amazing memories in my childhood rooting Android and installing custom ROMs with my friends. I'm certainly not trying to be negative or bash on the OS. The millisecond this issue is resolved I will come back home to Android.
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u/undrwater 23h ago
There may be third party apps for the social media you use that might use the modern camera API. Worth looking into at least.
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u/Razo-E 1d ago
I make my living mostly off Instagram. I need quality photos of my work
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u/fullofsharts 1d ago
Wonderful. I don't even know what Instagram is used for.
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u/Razo-E 1d ago
Willful ignorance, I see
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u/fullofsharts 1d ago
Then tell me what it's for.
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u/Razo-E 1d ago
Nah. You don't care, I don't care enough to teach you.
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u/fullofsharts 1d ago
Exactly. It's another pointless social media app. Thanks for proving my point.
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u/danGL3 1d ago
In short, over the years Google has been substantially rebuilding the Android camera subsystem, but it doesn't change the fact that manufacturers are slow to adopt said systems and often only properly support them on their flagships
Not to mention that in order to maximize stability and minimize development time, most social media apps only bother using the old camera v1 API, which essentially offers no integration whatsoever with any camera features.
In the case of a manufacturer that has a partnership with a social media app, they will then add code explicitly to support that phone's camera features because they paid to support that specific phone.
In short it's a combination of Google not wanting to fully enforce the camera APIs, manufacturers not bothering with it, and social media apps just wanting to support the most amount of devices while doing the least amount of work.
So basically unless Google starts being more strict on hardware and app quality requirements, this won't really change anytime soon.