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Google says that retouched selfies can make people feel bad about how they actually look, which is why it is changing the way it handles these photos with its newer phones. For Pixel 4A, 4A 5G and 5, it will disable face retouch by default from the Camera app. It will soon update the phones to re-label the retouching options and avoid any kind of critical words, like using the word “beauty.” If someone wants to use face retouch effects, Google will detail how the adjustments are applied and how they affect the photo.
“When you don’t know that a camera or photo app has applied a filter, photos can negatively affect mental well-being,” Google says in a blog post about the changes and why it made them. It’s unclear if older Pixel devices could get this update, but the company recommends that all camera apps turn off filters and retouching by default.
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Last year Isaac Reynolds, the Pixel Camera’s Lead Product Manager, spoke with The edge on how his team handles filters and facial retouching. She mentioned that the team collaborated with the wedding photographers to find the right retouching balance, so people still look like themselves but at their best.
The company first turned on selfie retouching by default with the Pixel 4, so it’s interesting to see that the team is already reversing that decision. At the time, it seemed like Google knew that people value accuracy, but they also wanted to look their best in photos. Now, he apparently cares more about keeping selfie-takers informed about what is happening with his photos and why.
