Google Messages may soon solve your dark viewfinder struggles

Google has been gradually adding features to Google Messages over the years. Just last month, Google finally added a Trash folder to Messages, and we’ve even spotted more customization options in the works. We’ve now spotted one more feature in Google Messages’ pipeline: Low Light Boost for the in-app camera preview.

Low Light Boost is an Android feature that brightens the real-time camera stream in apps. Low Light Boost works instantly on camera previews in the app, unlike Night Mode, which improves final image quality but requires the user to hold still for a bit. Both features can be used together to achieve the best results.

Google says that Low Light Boost automatically adjusts the amount of brightening needed based on available light, so it is optimized for every environment. The feature is important as apps often need to brighten up the camera preview to help users actually see what is in the frame before capture.

There are two ways to implement Low Light Boost on Android devices:

1. Low-Light Boost AE Mode: This is a hardware-level auto-exposure mode. It delivers the highest quality and performance by directly fine-tuning the Image Signal Processor (ISP) pipeline. Google notes that apps should prioritize this. It is supported on devices running Android 15 or later and requires the OEM to have implemented support in the HAL (currently available on Pixel 10 devices).
2. Google Low Light Boost: If the device doesn’t support the AE mode, apps can fall back to this software-based solution (HDRNet) provided by Google Play Services. It applies post-processing to the camera stream to brighten it. This is an all-software solution that is available on more devices.

In Google Messages v20260501 beta, we’ve spotted code suggesting Google is working to enable Low Light Boost for in-app camera previews.

We couldn’t get the feature to work reliably yet, so we don’t have more information to share on this end. When the feature becomes functional and starts rolling out, users should find it easier to use the in-app camera in Google Messages in low-light conditions. This should make it easier to frame subjects in your viewfinder in dimly lit scenes, though you should be aware that Low Light Boost will not affect the final result you get after pressing the shutter button (since that would require a Night Mode implementation on your device). We’ll keep you updated when we learn more.