Lanh Nguyen / Android Authority
TL;DR
- A recent update to the Pixel 9a caused the front-facing camera to glitch out during preview.
- Users observed a “flickering” effect where the camera seemed to jump between exposure levels.
- Now a new Pixel Camera update appears to fully resolve the issue.
Google’s Pixel 9a may be the company’s new smartphone hotness, but earlier this week we shared an odd problem with you that new owners of the phone were experiencing. When attempting to take photos with the 9a’s front-facing camera in lower-light environments, the in-app preview they’d see would flicker and jump back and forth between two brightness levels. And while it didn’t impact the pictures you actually took, and you could roll back your phone’s software to avoid it entirely, it was nonetheless a little annoying and a small blemish on the phone’s launch. But today we can share that Google has finally sorted this one out.
There’s a new version 9.8.102.748116395.16 release of the Pixel Camera app out now, and after ChromeUnboxed brought it to our attention, we decided to put it to the test. While we were easily able to recreate the flicker problem on our Pixel 9a handset earlier this week, after installing this new update we can confirm that it’s no longer happening. The image in the viewfinder preview maintains its expected exposure, and pics still look just as good as ever. Despite that positive change, some users are still running into odd behavior during macro photography, so Google’s work may not yet be complete.
If you were running into this glitch yourself on your own shiny new Pixel 9a, just go ahead and check for updates, and you should be well on your way to flicker-free performance. And we can’t promise it won’t just introduce a ton of new bugs, but if you’re feeling brave, today’s also your first shot to try the Android 16 Beta on your Pixel 9a.
