Snap a photo using a Google Pixel 2 or Pixel 2 XL with the default camera app and Google’s HDR+ technology helps you capture images with high dynamic range colors so that you don’t just get better photos in low-light settings, but you can capture dark and light accurately in the same shot.
Up until now HDR+ has only been available in the stock Google Camera app, but Google has been promising for months that it’d bring HDR+ to third-party apps by letting developers tap into the phones’ Pixel Visual Core co-processor.
Now the company is making good and that promise.
WhatsApp and Snapchat are two of the first apps that now support HDR+ on the Pixel and and Pixel 2 XL, but Google says the feature is now available for any third-party app that uses the camera.
Using the Pixel Visual Core to run the HDR+ algorithm saves power and extends battery life.
The update is part of Google’s February monthly update for the Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL, which starts rolling out today. You may have to wait a little while to get that over-the-air update automatically. But if you’re impatient you can download it manually from developers.google.com/android/ota.