Google inexplicably eliminates wide-angle astrophotography from Pixel phones

Pixel 5 and 4a 5G users can no longer use their ultra-wide cameras to take pictures of the stars: Google has apparently removed the astrophotography features of the lenses with the Google 8.1 Camera update. The feature was a Pixel 4 selling point and was available on regular and telephoto cameras. When the 4a 5G and 5 were announced with new wide-angle lenses, the feature was added to them as well. It has now been taken away.

The astrophotography feature allows users to capture the night sky by pointing the phone up and keeping it immobile, balancing it on a nearby object or placing it on a tripod. The feature is still available on the other cameras on the phones, but if you enter Night Vision mode and switch to the ultra wide angle camera, you will receive a warning saying “Zoom to 1x for astrophotography”. Before the update, it would say “Astrophotography enabled”.

Google did not respond to our request for comment asking why it had made the change, but it updated its low light photography support document to add the following warning:

Important: On Pixel 4a (5G) and Pixel 5, astrophotography only works at zoom settings equal to or greater than 1x.

Taking a look at the Wayback Machine, we can see that this change occurred sometime between November 1st and November 7th. It’s a bit of an awkward moment, since the update wasn’t released until a few days later.

For an explanation of why the feature was cut, you can check out this topic in the Google Pixel phone help forum. It has examples from two users, showing the results of the astrophotography mode produced on the normal Pixel 5 camera, compared to what the ultra-wide-angle lens offers. I will let you judge the photos for yourself. The forum post, however, is another strange thing – it was done days after the feature removal update had already started to be implemented.

Given that the update was released for a month and a half before most people actually started to notice that the feature had been removed, it may be obvious why Google thought it could escape without mentioning it in the changelog. Even though it is a feature that will not go unnoticed by many, it still remains a reminder that the features of the software used to advertise a phone may be subject to change (as well as Pixel’s unlimited original quality storage in Google Photos ).