The Pixel 4 comes with a telephoto lens that allows users up to 2x optical zoom, but it restricts digital zoom to 8x, most likely to prevent distorted images. However, that doesn’t mean the feature cannot be enabled within the software with a little bit of tweaking from the endlessly resourceful Android developer community. That being the case, it was only a matter of time before someone modded the Pixel 4’s G-Cam APK to enable higher zoom levels.
According to latest reports, XDA Senior Member, cstark27, has been able to not only increase the maximum zoom in the app but also use the telephoto camera at higher zoom levels, bringing stellar shots at up to 16x zoom. The best news for users is that installing the modifying APK doesn’t require root, because the package name is different than the original Google Camera app.
However, it can only offer up to 8x zoom in the Pixel 4 without root access, so you’ll still need to root your device to enable 16x zoom, as seen in the screenshots above. Also, the once rooted, the 16x zoom can be enabled on both the regular camera and the telephoto camera, but images posted by XDA Editor-in-Chief, Mishaal Rehman, suggest that the effect is significantly better with the telephoto camera than with the primary lens.
In case you own a Pixel 4 and is thinking about rooting it to unlock all the cool features, you can hop over to the official XDA thread to check out all the details about how to go about it. Or, you can download the APK (courtesy: cstark27) for your device.
