Google Pixel Owners Report Another Issue with the Camera

We may earn a commission for purchases made using our links.

Although many have praised the camera prowess on the new Google Pixel and Pixel XL, some owners haven’t had the best of luck with their photo-taking experience.

The camera has been a major selling point for the Google Pixel phones. Google has been touting the DxOMark camera rating in its marketing materials before the phones were even launched. Many Android smartphone publications, including our own, have lavished praise on the camera performance of the two Google Pixel devices. Sadly, some users have been having quite different experiences.

Right around launch, we started to see reports from users experiencing a mysterious lens flare/halo effect appearing in their photos. This lens flare/halo effect isn’t present in all photos and seemingly depends entirely on what the user is taking a picture of. Google has already acknowledged this issue’s existence and said they would work on a software update to eliminate the lens flare issue.

But, this lens flare isn’t the only issue users have been reporting with the camera experience on the Google Pixel/Pixel XL. Users posting on the Google’s Pixel User Community have been reporting a strange issue involving the viewfinder of the camera application itself. Seemingly at random times, people are seeing strange pink and purple lines appearing within the app’s viewfinder. Furthermore, taking a photo will result in the camera capturing these pink and purple lines in the photo itself, which means the issue may go beyond a bug within the Google Camera app itself.

This issue was first reported towards the end of October, and throughout all of November more and more reports have been flooding in from users within the Pixel User Community saying they are experiencing the same issue. Many have speculated the cause behind this strange bug, but an explanation has yet to confirm the true source. Fortunately, Google has responded to the thread with assurances that they are aware of and are actively investigating the issue. The company has marked the bug as a high priority and will report back in the future with further details.