One of the most useful and versatile apps that can be installed as an APK file is Google Camera or GCam, a modification of Google Pixels app. If you already have a Pixel, it might seem absurd to install one of these mods, but it really isn’t: those who develop the GCam add a lot of advanced mods to the software that google does not enable on its camera. Of course, having the GCam in a Pixel comes with some inconvenience.
They may not be the best-selling mobiles or the ones that offer the most power of all the available park. They have a particular design and make the simplicity of the software one of their weapons, always a double-edged sword: the lightness of the Google Pixel also plays against it, which next to MIUI or One UI remain in their infancy when it comes to options, settings and extras. And the same parallel could be drawn between the Pixel’s stock camera and a good GCam.
Not all GCams work the first time
Android apps have a package name that identifies them as a specific app. Besides, the developers sign these packages guaranteeing their origin and that the software has not been modified: Only the original developer can sign their applications to guarantee the origin.
As the GCam is the result, precisely, of a modification, and you can keep the same package name as the original google cameraif you try to install a GCam on your Google Pixel, it may not allow you: the system will try to update the existing camera application and, after verifying that the APK is not signed by Google, it will prevent you from installing it.
If you try to install a GCam with the same name as Google Camera, your Pixel will not let you
The key to getting a GCam to work on your Google Pixel is to pick one with the package name has been modified so that it does not match that of the original Google camera. After trying many mods, I prefer those from BSG, he seems to me to be one of the better developers.
My recommendation is to go to Celso Azevedo, the biggest GCam repository, and choose a version that does not have the original package name: “com.google.android.GoogleCamera”. If you try to install an app with this package name on your Google Pixel, it won’t be able to because the camera is not signed by Google.
Don’t choose a GCam that has the same package name as the original Google Camera
Once the GCam is chosen, the rest of the process is usual:
- Download the APK of your choice by following the tips above.
- Always check that the file is free of malware. Once the APK is downloaded, upload it to Virus Total to make sure it’s clean.
- Install the file on your Google Pixel.
- Open and configure the new GCam. Ready.
The amount of advanced settings of a GCam is impressive
One of the issues with using a GCam as an alternative to the original Google Camera is that you will have two identical icons for the camera application: my advice is to add the GCam to the desktop in a photography folder, for example. Since you’re most likely to be using the stock default app, in case you want advanced GCam usage, just go to the folder.
In Xataka Android | GCam or GCam Go: which one to choose?
