Night mode camera feature helps in capturing clear images in low-light conditions. Instagram for Android makes this feature available for some of the Android phones.
Night mode camera feature of Instagram:
Instagram for Android, with the help of the Camera Extensions API for Android, starts featuring a “Night mode” on the Google Pixel and Samsung Galaxy phones.
This Camera Extension API for Android helps Android devices by allowing Android apps to access device-specific camera features “implemented by the Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) to maximize the quality of features. This includes:
- Bokeh: it is used to take portrait photos as it sharpens the foreground subject and blurs the background.
- Face Retouch: it gives touch-ups to skin texture, under-eye tone, and more.
- High Dynamic Range: A widening exposure range helps in more vivid photos.
- Night: it brightens photos in low-light exposure. Several photos are taken by the camera at various exposure values and then merged into one.
With the Night extension API for Android, Google aims to get clear and perfect images captured even in low-light exposure.
So, Instagram for Android is taking advantage of these features included in ‘Night Mode Camera Extension’ for its “Night Mode” on some Android phones.
List of Android phones getting “Night Mode”:
For now, this ‘Night Mode’ camera is available for Google phones, including Pixel 6 and newer phones, and Samsung Galaxy phones, including Galaxy S24 Ultra, Flip 6, and Fold 6, with “more devices to follow.”
When you click an image using the camera in low light, Instagram shows you the option of the ‘moon icon’ there, next to the flash. You need to “Hold Still” for a few seconds on the screen. Then you can click a perfect picture.
With the Android 15 feature drop in October, this has been launched on Pixel devices.
This ‘Night mode’ is framed as “Night Sight for Instagram” by Google. It help users take nighttime and low-light pictures without a flash.
In an Android Developer article, Google mentioned that there are “over 120 different devices that support the Camera Extensions, representing over 75 million monthly active users.”
New Night Mode Indicator API:
Google is going to add a Night Mode Indicator API with Android 16, which will help users know that when their device is in a low-light environment with three states below:
- UNKNOWN: The camera is unable to reliably detect the lighting conditions of the current scene to determine if a photo will benefit from a Night Mode Camera Extension capture.
- OFF: The camera has detected lighting conditions that are sufficiently bright. Night Mode Camera Extension is available but may not be able to optimize the camera settings to take a higher quality photo.
- ON: The camera has detected low-light conditions. It is recommended to use Night Mode Camera Extension to optimize the camera settings to take a high-quality photo in the dark
