Google inexplicably removes wide-angle astrophotography from Pixel phones

Pixel 5 and 4a 5G users can no longer use their ultra-wide cameras to take pictures of the stars – Google apparently removed the lens’s astrophotography capabilities with the Google Camera 8.1 update. The feature was a selling point of the Pixel 4 and was available on both normal and telephoto cameras. When the 4a 5G and 5 models with new wide-angle lenses were announced, the function was added to them as well. Now it has been taken away.

The astrophotography function allows users to capture the night sky by pointing their phone up and holding it still, either by balancing it on a nearby object or by placing it on a tripod. The feature is still available on the other phone cameras, but if you go to Night Sight mode and switch to the ultra-wide camera, you will now get a warning that says “Zoom to 1x for astrophotography”. Before the update, it said “Astrophotography On”.

Google did not respond to our request for comment asking why it had made the change, but it updated its low light photography support document to add the following warning:

Important: On Pixel 4a (5G) and Pixel 5, astrophotography only works at zoom settings equal to or greater than 1x.

Taking a look at the Wayback Machine, we can see that this change occurred sometime between November 1 and November 7. It’s a bit of an odd moment given that the update didn’t go live until a couple of days later.

For an explanation of why the feature may have been cut, you can refer to this thread on Google’s Pixel Phone help forum. You have two user examples, showing the astrophotography mode results produced on the Pixel 5’s normal camera, compared to what the ultra-wide lens emitted. I will let you judge the photos for yourself. The forum post, however, is another oddity at the time – it was made days after the update that removed the feature had already started rolling out.

Since the update was available for a month and a half before most people actually started noticing that the feature had been removed, it may be obvious why Google thought it could get away with not mentioning it in the changelog. . Even if it’s a feature that many won’t miss out on, it’s still a reminder that software features used to advertise a phone may be subject to change (as is the Pixel’s unlimited original quality storage in Google Photos).