(I’ve also posted this here on reddit to increase reach)
BigKaka’s AGC9.2.14 V14 GCam mod, available here, now supports photosphere, all onboard cameras, and all modern V9 camera features on Pixel 9 series of phones. No need for a config (tested on my Pixel 9 Pro).
Previous GCam mods (I tried quite a few) either:
- Weren’t based on more recent GCam versions, so were missing features
- Had working Photosphere but none of the other features worked
- Only the main camera worked.
- It just plain crashed on start.
To remind everyone, Photosphere was taken off from the Pixel 8-series onwards. While there were workarounds for Pixel 8-series users, Pixel 9 users have been stuck without it since launch.
As a big fan of the feature, I’m glad I can now use it again without having to switch between camera apps to take normal pictures or worrying about crashes.
Wow Focus mode is awesome, was looking for something like that thanks! What’s the privacy policy of this app? No data collection?
Edit: I’m guessing this is FOSS
Sorry, I don’t actually know what you mean by “Focus mode”.
I doubt it’s technically FOSS given that it’s a mod of a proprietary camera app usually limited to the Pixel phone line. It is free though.
I remember when Photosphere worked on just about any device until Google decided to fuck that up for everyone. They sure do love to fuck up cool and/or functional things that people love!
I bought an 8 all excited to have Photosphere again only to discover that Google shit the bed even on the Pixel series. What the actual fuck Google? Why are you so shit?
It’s like you’re begging us to install Graphene or swtich to iOS.
Stop actively making everything shittier! It only hurts your bottom line as people get fed up with this bullshit and move away from Google because it’s constantly destroying the apps and features people love.
Does graphene support photosphere?
No idea, but since Google fucked over Pixel 8 and 9 users anyways and took it away I’m not overly concerned about it.
Agreed. Google really does have a reputation for killing good things.
The main reason I still buy them is that it is one of the only brands that makes it easy to root your phone. Used to buy OnePlus but they’ve kind of abandoned their enthusiast community quite a few years ago.
Yeah, I’ve only bought Xperia and Pixel for years for this very reason. Switched away from Samsung after getting fed up with their bullshit software and bootloader shenanigans, especially after the dev community moved towards other, better phones. If Google ever completely shits the bed on bootloaders/custom firmware, I’m gone.
I didn’t know Xperia phones made rooting easy. Are they any good nowadays? They’re obviously really small market-share-wise.
Yes, their flagships are great. I used them exclusively since the Z1 up until I got a Pixel for super cheap and a year of unlimited service thrown in. Not sure what the dev scene is like these days but part of the reason I switched was because it was pretty much stock Android which is what was modding the old phones to get to anyways, so I didn’t really follow it after switching.
I do know that their bootloaders are unlockable though.
Compatibility and requirements: Only works on phones with the camera2 API enabled; Recent apks may not work on older Android versions;Neat. What’s the check for ‘phones with the camera2 API enabled’ ? How ‘older’ is ‘older Android’?
I’ve seen fog with better definition than that list.
Also, welcome to modded stuff. It’s sadly not always user friendly, and often requires further googling and reading to understand.
Despite this site’s best efforts to make recommendations (it’s a godsend given how many versions there are), I’ve still had to test a lot of different versions to find one that works well with my phone.
This link should help you find something for your phone model:
https://www.celsoazevedo.com/files/android/google-camera/links/
The Camera2 API was introduced in Android 5 in 2014 I believe. It was a big deal at the time. Most phones should support it.
Isn’t that panorama mode? Most camera apps can do that. On any device.
Panorama is only horizontal and often has angle limits like 180 degrees. Photosphere gets everything around, up, and down.
Yes and when viewing them, you can pan around with your phone or a VR headset like you were there!
If you’ve ever used Google Street View, it’s basically that.
That is super cool that it is back! My tin foil hat theory is that from Pixel 8 onward Google outsourced photosphere Google Maps Streetview content to a third party and no longer needed that internal team’s tech anymore. There is usually some dumb business need attached to google’s android features, even if they are useful and cool.
Is there any good app on iOS that can take 360° sphere photos?
Until recently, I think you could do it with the Street View app, but apparently that has now been discontinued. Not sure what you can do now.
I used a 360 camera app on iOS for years. Probably 2010 to 2016. Don’t think there’s been a decent replacement or alternative since it was removed from the app store.
iOS is enshittifying too.
Wow, Google propoganda and reddit links getting the upvotes. This is where we are at in 2025.
This post highlights how shitty Google is about taking cool features away from paying customers.
Just how is it “Google propaganda”???
Edit: I see you had time to downvote the question but couldn’t be bothered to answer it.
We will just have to assume your statement was total bullshit and you have absolutely no idea what you’re talking about, but please do feel free to correct that assumption if is incorrect!
What are you talking about? Genuinely?
