One of the most fun and intriguing features of the Pixel 6 series is Magic Eraser. First teased way back at Google I/O in 2017, it was delayed for years before we finally got to experience its object-removing party trick for ourselves. Here’s everything you need to know about Magic Eraser, an overview of how it works, and some of its more entertaining use cases.
What is Google’s Magic Eraser?
True to its name, Magic Eraser on the Pixel 6 series can automagically erase unwanted objects, including people, from your photos. The feature relies on Google’s machine learning and AI prowess to make what was previously a very manual editing job in Photoshop a simple task.
Google will automatically identify potentially unwanted objects and people in your photos and prompt you to remove them. Alternatively, you can doodle over an object to magically erase it from the photo. That all means that concerns like dealing with photobombers could now be thing of the past — you don’t have to wait for the crowd to thin out if you don’t want random people to show up in your selfies.
Further improvements to Magic Eraser are on their way. Alongside the Pixel 6a, Google previewed a new Camouflage mode that, rather than outright removing them, re-colors distracting objects to make them less noticeable. This one’s coming to existing Pixel 6 models, too, and we can’t wait to share a bunch of examples with you soon.
What devices is Magic Eraser available on?
Magic Eraser is exclusively available on the Pixel 6, Pixel 6 Pro, and the Pixel 6a. The good thing is that there are some Magic Eraser alternatives worth trying if you don’t use a Pixel phone, though your mileage may vary with them.
How well does Magic Eraser work in real life?
Check out some examples below of how well Magic Eraser works in real-life scenarios and how you can use it smartly to remove unwanted objects from photos. If you look closely, you can often see artifacts of the removal process, but for as well as this tends to work, we’ll put up with a few minor glitches.
This first example is what you should usually expect from Magic Eraser — an impressive feat, but not without some glitches in the background. There are a lot of people to erase from this scene, and Google’s camera tricks mostly make it happen, but if you look closely, you’ll notice some half-spliced bodies that didn’t fully blend in.
Our next example is much simpler — and more successful because of it. With only one person to erase, Google can more or less accurately recreate the door behind him. It’s a little warped, and the graffiti has been smoothed over like a half-done paint job, but there’s nothing too odd about the photo.
This one, though… here Google just nails it. It’s a small change, only removing a fly from the dog’s head, but Magic Eraser executes its task almost perfectly. If you’re looking closely, you can still see a little bit of shadow left over, but I don’t think anyone presented with the edited copy alone would ever notice.
Having fun with Magic Eraser
Magic Eraser can open the door for some silly photos, with just a quick edit. There’s not much any of us can do about rising fuel prices. But with Magic Eraser on your Pixel 6 or 6a, you can hide that pain.
Next time your son tries to photobomb you, use Magic Eraser to remove him from the frame just like this dad.
A car without wheels? Yep, that’s possible with Magic Eraser.
Don’t worry about the crowd the next time you visit the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Just click the photos you want and let your Pixel’s Magic Eraser do all the hard work. The result won’t be perfect, as evident from the example below — you can see the shadows. Nonetheless, it’s much better than waiting for the sidewalk to be empty.
Not a fan of the notch on your new MacBook Pro or Air? Magic Eraser has got your back, at least in photos.
You can use Magic Eraser to remove your friends or family from photos.
The feature can even help you turn an outing with your friends into a date.
Cleaning up a mess using Magic Eraser sure sounds a lot better than actually getting your hands dirty.
And here’s one final entry from AP’s own Ryne Hager. More like “Magic Erasew,” Ryne.
The best part of Magic Eraser is that it doesn’t only work on photos taken with the Pixel 6 series, and seems to work just as well on shots imported from other devices. So far we’ve been hugely impressed by what it can do, and can’t wait to see what powers Google gives it next.
