Google turns off automatic selfie retouching on Pixel, taking care of users’ psyche
Applying filters and retouching photos taken with the front camera has become commonplace in modern smartphones. Moreover, in most of them, these functions are active by default, and automatically eliminate all imperfections of the facial skin, thereby setting too high user requirements for their appearance. According to the latest research from Google, such retouching negatively affects the psyche of people, forcing them to compare themselves and “ideal” photos.
Because of this, the company decided to abandon the “beauty mode” in its new Pixel 5 and Pixel 4a 5G smartphones. Google has even published guidelines for third-party companies that face retouching should be turned off by default, and a notification should be displayed when it is active. In addition, Google has recommended avoiding the word “beauty” in the names of the respective modes.
Of course, Google hasn’t completely gotten rid of the touch-up feature on its smartphones, but now it will be disabled by default on all of its smartphones. In case the user decides to activate the feature, a notification will be shown informing how the filter will work and how its use will affect the skin texture in the photo. In addition, the strength of the effect can be adjusted.
It is worth noting that many smartphone manufacturers, especially Chinese companies, still use moderate selfie retouching in their devices, even when the function is disabled. The likelihood that they will start following Google’s recommendations is low.
