Posted by Fred Chung, Android Developer Relations
Snapchat is a visible messaging app that enhances Snapchatters’ relationships with associates, household, and the world. It opens to the digicam and presents thousands and thousands of augmented actuality and AI-powered Lenses for self expression, studying, and play. Making certain Snapchatters can simply seize and share their lives with shut family and friends is a precedence for Snapchat, and so they’re at all times exploring new methods to enhance the general app expertise.
As a part of this, the Snapchat workforce added new digicam options into the app utilizing Android’s Camera2 Extensions API, which permits builders to entry numerous capabilities that OEMs have applied on numerous units, like Night time Mode and Bokeh. Due to Android’s intuitive API, the Snapchat workforce applied new digicam options 50% sooner than earlier than.
Camera2 Extensions API offers entry to superior options
The Snapchat workforce wished to optimize the appliance for the increasing number of Android units, understanding many OEMs differentiate their units with their respective digicam applied sciences. As Snapchat is a primarily visible app that works with a tool’s digicam, the workforce optimizes the app to take full benefit of every machine’s distinctive {hardware}.
“We wished to leverage every OEM’s software program to reinforce the Snapchat expertise on Android,” mentioned Ye Tian, a software program engineer at Snapchat. “This might assist the app obtain higher-quality Snaps which might be akin to what a tool’s native digicam presents.”
What began as a objective to enhance the app’s low-light capabilities led to way more. The Snapchat workforce labored on discovering new methods to enhance the app’s digicam capabilities by implementing options like night time mode, portrait mode, face retouch, tap-to-focus, zoom, and extra.
“Our collaboration with Google Pixel paved the best way for collaboration with different OEMs to implement night time mode and super-night mode of their units with very minimal code modifications,” mentioned Ye. “The Camera2 Extensions API is versatile and in depth. Snapchat can now use it to construct full-fledged functions on demand with out negatively impacting efficiency and stability.”
The implementation through the Camera2 Extension API made it simple for Snapchat builders so as to add extra digicam options into the app. And utilizing the extensions made obtainable with Android’s digicam API, Snapchat built-in new digicam options 50% sooner when in comparison with the standard industry-standard approaches it used prior to now.
Extra alternatives on extra units
The Snapchat workforce was joyful to provide its customers a extra cohesive expertise utilizing the Camera2 Extensions API. Due to the extensions offered within the API, builders simply improved the app’s digicam on a variety of producer units utilizing the Android platform, and far sooner than earlier than.
“I benefit from the range of the Android platform and using the distinctive benefits of every cell phone producers’ units,” mentioned Ye. “It helps us carry their cutting-edge improvements into the Snapchat app, permitting Snapchatters to raised seize their life moments.”
Snapchat’s workforce seems to be ahead to working with extra OEMs to additional enhance the app’s processing capabilities throughout units utilizing the Camera2 Extensions API. They’re additionally trying ahead to bettering the app’s backward compatibility utilizing the brand new API, which can permit much more customers to profit from the extensions.
“I’d suggest utilizing Camera2 Extension API. It offers in depth functionalities and secure efficiency to enhance the rate that builders can ship options,” mentioned Ye.
Get began
Learn to enhance your app’s digicam capabilities with the Camera2 Extensions API.
