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Android 16 will help you click better social media photos in low light conditions
- Android 16 will introduce a new Night Mode Indicator API to help apps automatically optimize photo capture in low-light environments.
- Instagram and other social apps will use this to trigger Night Mode, thereby improving image quality and informing users when they are clicking images in low-light conditions.
- Select devices, such as the Pixel 6 and above, Galaxy S24 Ultra, and others, already support the feature and display a moon icon to help users activate Night Mode.
Google plans to introduce a new Night Mode Indicator API in Android 16 to help apps automatically adjust to low-light environments when capturing images or recording videos.
In a new Android Developers blog post (h/t Mishaal Rahman), Google wrote that the new API will allow apps like Instagram, Snapchat, and others to detect when a device is in a low-light environment and trigger the Night Mode Camera Extension when necessary. This means that when you take a photo in dim lighting, the camera baked into social media apps will optimize settings automatically, resulting in brighter images with reduced noise.
Instagram already supports this feature on select phones like the Pixel 6 and up, Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra, Galaxy Z Flip 6, and Galaxy Z Fold 6. More devices will be added to this list soon. When Instagram detects low-light conditions on devices that support the feature, it displays a moon icon, letting users know that they can activate the Night Mode. Google has shared examples (see below) of how this feature improves image quality, providing improved exposure and details.
Android 16’s Night Mode Indicator API will be a part of Android’s Camera Extensions framework, which allows apps to leverage device-specific camera features like Portrait Bokeh and Face Retouching. This ensures that no matter the device you’re using, you’ll get the best performance possible from your phone’s camera hardware.
For social media users, Android 16’s Night Mode Indicator API will make capturing high-quality content in low-light environments easier as more app developers will be able to implement the Moon Icon indicator for switching Night Mode on and off.