5 Google Pixel Camera Settings You're Probably Ignoring

A group photo where someone always blinks. A fast-moving kid who never comes out sharp. An old photo you wish you could fix but figured you never could. Pixel phones have built-in features for exactly these situations, and most of them sit off by default, tucked in menus most people never open.

This guide covers the five settings actually worth knowing about, what each one solves, and where to find it.

Quick Reference

• Top Shot: picks the best frame from a burst automatically
• Frequent Faces: improves recognition and skin-tone accuracy for people you photograph often
• RAW + JPEG: saves an editable RAW file alongside your normal photo
• Grid: adds composition guides to the viewfinder
• Photo Unblur: a Google Photos editing tool, not a camera setting, that sharpens already-blurry photos

Top Shot: The Fix for Blinks and Bad Timing

Picture a birthday photo where the candles are lit, everyone's smiling, and one person blinks at the exact wrong moment. Top Shot solves this specific, common frustration.

According to Google's own Pixel Camera Help documentation Top Shot captures a short burst around the moment you press the shutter and lets you pick a different frame afterward if the one that saved automatically isn't the best one. It's found under the Camera app's Settings, where it can be set to Auto or On, and on Pixel 10 and later, Top Shot captures support the same HDR+ quality as a regular photo.

After taking a photo with Top Shot active, opening it and tapping Edit reveals the alternate frames captured around that moment, letting you swap in a better expression without needing multiple separate attempts at the shot.

Frequent Faces: Better Accuracy for People You Photograph Often

If you regularly photograph the same people, family, a partner, close friends, this setting is worth understanding even if you decide not to use it.

Google's documentation explains that Frequent Faces helps the camera recognize faces you photograph often and, on Pixel 6 and later, helps the camera represent skin tones more accurately for those specific people over time. All face data used for this stays stored on the device itself rather than being sent to Google, and turning the feature off deletes that stored data.

It's found under Camera Settings, then More Settings, then Frequent Faces, and it's off by default, meaning the accuracy improvement it offers isn't happening automatically unless you turn it on.

RAW + JPEG: More Editing Room When You Need It

Every standard photo your Pixel takes has already been processed, sharpened, and compressed by the time it saves. RAW capture skips that processing, preserving significantly more of the original sensor data for you to adjust afterward.

Turning on RAW + JPEG in camera settings doesn't replace your normal photos; it saves both a standard JPEG and a RAW file for the same shot, letting you use the convenient JPEG for everyday sharing while keeping the RAW version available for photos you want to edit more seriously. A RAW badge appears on these photos in Google Photos, and tapping through reveals both versions.

This is worth turning on selectively rather than leaving on permanently, since RAW files are considerably larger and most everyday photos don't need the extra editing headroom.

Grid: Composition Help That Costs Nothing

Tucked under Camera Settings, then More Settings, then Composition, the Grid option overlays a 3x3 or 4x4 grid on the viewfinder, a simple tool for lining up a shot using the rule of thirds rather than guessing by eye.

This is one of the lowest-effort settings on this entire list to turn on, and one of the most consistently useful, since it applies to every photo without requiring you to think about it once it's enabled.

Photo Unblur: Fixing a Photo That Already Happened

This one isn't technically a camera setting, since it lives in Google Photos rather than the camera app, but it solves a problem closely related to everything else here, so it earns a place in this list.

If a photo already came out soft or blurry, whether from a fast-moving subject or a shutter speed that couldn't quite freeze the motion, opening it in Google Photos and using Edit, then Tools, then Unblur applies AI-based sharpening after the fact. According to Google's documentation, this works on new photos, older photos already in your library, and even photos originally taken on a different phone, not just ones captured on a Pixel.

Results vary depending on how blurry the original photo is and how much fine detail exists to work with, similar in principle to any AI enhancement tool: it's a genuine improvement, not a way to fully recover detail that was never captured.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need to turn on all five of these settings?

No. Grid is worth enabling for virtually everyone since it costs nothing. Top Shot and Frequent Faces are most useful if you regularly photograph moving subjects or the same people repeatedly. RAW + JPEG and Photo Unblur are situational, worth knowing about rather than always-on defaults.

Does RAW + JPEG use significantly more storage?

Yes. RAW files are considerably larger than standard JPEG or HEIC photos, since they preserve far more of the original sensor data. It's worth turning on selectively for photos you specifically plan to edit rather than leaving on for everyday shooting.

Is Photo Unblur available on every Pixel model?

No, availability depends on the specific Pixel model and its chipset, since the feature relies on on-device AI processing. Checking whether the Unblur option appears under Tools in Google Photos on your specific device is the most reliable way to confirm.

Why is Frequent Faces off by default if it improves accuracy?

It's off by default because it involves the camera storing and using data about specific people's faces, even though that data stays on the device. Leaving it opt-in rather than automatic gives you the choice of whether that tradeoff is worth the accuracy improvement for your use case.

Can Photo Unblur fix any blurry photo?

Not any photo equally well. It works best on photos that are genuinely out of focus or affected by motion blur, and results are less reliable on very old, heavily compressed, or extremely noisy images, where there's less real detail for the tool to work with.

Five Settings, Five Specific Problems

None of these features are hidden gimmicks. Each one solves a specific, common photography frustration: Top Shot for bad timing, Frequent Faces for recognition accuracy, RAW + JPEG for editing flexibility, Grid for composition, and Photo Unblur for photos that already went wrong. None require ongoing attention once configured, and most cost nothing to try.

If you only enable one thing from this list today, Grid is the easiest starting point: a single toggle, zero downside, and an immediate, permanent improvement to how every future photo gets framed.