Google Camera 7.1 hints at saving photos with depth data for social media, reveals Social Share supported apps

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Google started rolling out version 7.1 of the Google Camera app earlier today, and it brings a new UI, Framing hints, and the Social Share feature. We started to dig into the APK to see what else might be in the works, and we spotted more hints about support for the Dynamic Depth Format (DDF). We also found out which apps are supported by the new Social Share feature. Here’s what we found.

An APK teardown can often predict features that may arrive in a future update of an application, but it is possible that any of the features we mention here may not make it in a future release. This is because these features are currently unimplemented in the live build and may be pulled at any time by the developers in a future build.

Social Media Depth Features

Android 10 adds support for the Dynamic Depth Format (DDF). DDF files contain the depth data for photos you take so apps can change the blur effect in post-processing without modifying the original image. In our teardown of the leaked Google Camera 7.0 dogfood build, we spotted evidence that the Pixel 4 will support saving the depth data as a DDF file for photos taken from the front and rear cameras. Version 7.1 of the APK has strings that reveal a preference for choosing whether you want to save depth data in a DDF file. The preference, titled “Social media depth features” has a description that states the feature could “be used by social media apps,” though we don’t know of any social media apps that support DDF yet.

<string name="pref_depth_every_photo_summary">Depth data will be saved. This data may be used by social media apps. Motion photos will be turned off and photos may take longer to process.</string> <string name="pref_depth_every_photo_title">Social media depth features</string>

Saving depth data in a DDF file will likely debut on the Pixel 4 and Pixel 4 XL, but we don’t know if it’ll be enabled on older Pixel smartphones. We should learn more information in a week during the Made by Google event.

Social Share

Social Share is a new feature that we first learned about from the new Pixel Tips app. This feature lets you easily share a recently taken photo by simply swiping up on the photo preview and choosing from one of three options.

In settings, we noticed that you can choose which apps you want to be shown in the social share shortcut, but it wasn’t clear exactly which apps would be supported. According to the strings, Google Camera 7.1 currently supports Discord, Facebook Messenger, Facebook Messenger Lite, Chat, Messages, GroupMe, Hangouts, Helo, Imo Messenger, Instagram Stories, KakaoTalk, Kik, LINE, ShareChat, Signal, Skype, Snapchat, Telegram, Textra, Twitter, Verizon Message+, Viber, WeChat, and WhatsApp.

<string name="social_app_discord">Discord</string> <string name="social_app_fb_add_story">Add to Your Story</string> <string name="social_app_fb_messenger">Messenger</string> <string name="social_app_fb_messenger_lift">Messenger Lite</string> <string name="social_app_fb_your_story">Your Story</string> <string name="social_app_google_chat">Chat</string> <string name="social_app_google_messages">Messages</string> <string name="social_app_groupme">GroupMe</string> <string name="social_app_hangouts">Hangouts</string> <string name="social_app_helo">Helo</string> <string name="social_app_imo_messenger">Imo Messenger</string> <string name="social_app_instagram_stories">Stories</string> <string name="social_app_kakaotalk">KakaoTalk</string> <string name="social_app_kik">Kik</string> <string name="social_app_line">LINE</string> <string name="social_app_sharechat">ShareChat</string> <string name="social_app_signal">Signal</string> <string name="social_app_skype">Skype</string> <string name="social_app_snapchat">Snapchat</string> <string name="social_app_telegram">Telegram</string> <string name="social_app_textra">Textra</string> <string name="social_app_tweet">Tweet</string> <string name="social_app_verizon_messages">Message+</string> <string name="social_app_viber">Viber</string> <string name="social_app_wechat">WeChat</string> <string name="social_app_whatsapp">WhatsApp</string>

Google may update this list with more apps in future updates to the Google Camera app. We’ll let you know when that happens.

Thanks to PNF Software for providing us a license to use JEB Decompiler, a professional-grade reverse engineering tool for Android applications.