Google locks out GrapheneOS users from new Pixel Camera app

Google’s latest Pixel Camera update (version 10.x) apparently doesn’t play nice with privacy-focused operating systems. According to a report from Kuketz Blog, the new Pixel Camera app now has a hard dependency on Google Play Services. That means if you’re using GrapheneOS or another de-Googled system, the app will probably crash or fail to launch entirely.

The blog notes that users who still want to run the Pixel Camera app on GrapheneOS can roll back to an older version, specifically version 9.9.106.773153235.19 (Build ID 68469120), using the Aurora Store. However, to do this, users will need to completely uninstall their current Pixel Camera app, because a direct downgrade won’t work.

If you’re using GrapheneOS, here’s how you can install an older version of the Pixel Camera app:

• Uninstall the current Google Camera app.
• Open the Aurora Store, tap the three-dot menu, and select “Version.”
• Enter 68469120 as the version number and install it.
• To stop future updates, block the app from updating in Aurora’s blocklist settings.

This workaround lets you keep using Pixel Camera without installing Play Services. However, you’ll miss out on future updates and features.

Meanwhile, users on Reddit say that if you have a sandboxed Google Play Store and Play Services running on your Pixel with GrapheneOS, you’ll still be able to use the latest version of the Pixel Camera app.

“I got the update yesterday, and it still works fine for me. My guess is that if you run Graphene not using Google Play Services, you may run into issues or the app doesn’t work outright.”

That pretty much sums it up. If you’re running sandboxed Google Play Services on GrapheneOS, you should be fine, but if you’ve fully de-Googled, you can expect problems.

Of course, this behavior shouldn’t be surprising. After all, Pixel Camera is a Google app, and tighter integration with Play Services is part of Google’s ecosystem strategy. In the long run, the GrapheneOS team plans to bring Pixel-level image quality to their own camera app. The OS is also expected to be available on non-Pixel devices in the next year or so.