[Updated] One UI 3.0 (Android 11) update allegedly removes face smoothening (camera filters) from Samsung Galaxy phones

New updates are being added at the bottom of this story…….

Original story (published on October 13, 2020) follows:

Android 11 is being steadily rolled out by various OEMs in the form of their in-house custom skins. Among them, Samsung’s Android 11-based One UI 3.0 update.

However, Samsung is still testing its latest custom skin and devices from the Galaxy S20 series have received the public beta version.

It must be noted that Google has already released the Android 11 Compatibility Definition document outlining all the changes in the latest OS update.

The document basically contains a set of guidelines that OEMs will have to adhere to while customizing the AOSP source code.

It is clearly stated in the document that OEMs cannot implement any camera algorithms related to facial tweaking at the time of image processing.

MUST ensure that the facial appearance is NOT altered, including but not limited to altering facial geometry, facial skin tone, or facial skin smoothening for any android.hardware.camera2 or android.hardware.Camera API.
Source

This means that the facial appearance including but not limited to the facial skin tone, facial geometry, and facial skin smoothening must not be altered while the images are being captured.

Basically, face retouching features are now banned by Google in the camera apps of all Android 11 eligible devices.

Now, Samsung appears to be adhering to this new policy by Google as the Android 11-based One UI 3.0 update does not include the face smoothening filters for the Camera app.

While some users are not liking this change, nothing can be done about it as all Android 11 eligible devices will have to adhere to this new rule specified by Google.

Nevertheless, users can still tweak the images afterwards i.e. facial tweaks can still be made during post processing.

Also, it is unclear which OEMs, except Samsung, have started adhering to the new rule but more reports on the matter are definitely expected.

That said, we will keep tracking the development of the One UI 3.0 update and will provide details when more information becomes available.

In the meantime, you can check out our Samsung One UI 3.0 (Android 11) update tracker to get the latest updates on the topic.

Moreover, we have curated a consolidated Android 11 update tracker for all major OEMs and carriers so be sure to go through it as well.

01:50 pm (IST): A user has taken to Reddit to confirm that the skin smoothening effect has actually been removed after turning the feature off via the One UI 3.0 beta update for the Samsung Galaxy S10.

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