Which phones can use the Google Photos Photo Unblur feature?

What is Photo Unblur?

The Pixel 7 the series has the new G2 tensor chip with a next-generation Tensor processing unit that Google claims is 60% faster for machine learning tasks. Because of this, it’s capable of performing AI-backed tasks in Google Photos that even the Pixel 6 can’t handle, like Photo Unblur.

At the Made by Google event, Google engineer Shenaz Zack described Photo Unblur as a tool to “automatically blend images from the ultra-wide and main cameras to help ensure faces are clear.” That’s actually what Unblurred face tool did last year, so this aspect is technically not new.

What is What’s new is that Tensor G2 uses a “state-of-the-art machine learning approach” to remove more blur than before and remove “visual noise” from the entire image, not just faces. You can take advantage of this tool for any photo “no matter how old” or what camera phone you took them.

You can see the Photo Unblur effect in the photos taken below.

So, if you import them to Google Photos from another account like iCloud or Facebook, you can still blur your photos even if they don’t have visual data from multiple camera lenses. And you can also use magic eraser in those old photos.

Unfortunately, to do this you will need the Google Pixel 7 or Pixel 7 Prosince Pixel 6 The series’ TPU apparently lacks the processing power to disable Photo Unblur.

Photo deblur versus Face deblur

When the Pixel 6 detects that you’re taking a photo of a fast-moving object, it automatically takes a simultaneous shot of the subject with its two primary lenses and stitches them together. Google describes it as capturing the sharpness of the ultra-wide lens and the brightness of the primary lens and incorporating them both into an ideal image.

The Pixel 7 will also do this automatically – only better, with its faster machine learning capabilities. But Photo Unblur allows you to retroactively fix old Google Photos images. We have a guide on how to use Photo Unblur, but here’s the gist: when you look at a blurry photo in the Google Photos app, an Unblur option appears in the editing tool’s suggestions; or you can go to Tools and manually adjust the blur with a slider to get the perfect look.

With the Pixel 6, only your new action shots will have the perfect focus with Face Unblur. There is nothing you can do to retouch your old photos.

The Pixel 7 and 7 Pro have other new machine learning tools, such as revamped Real Tone and Night Sight photos, stronger Super Res zoom, and better video stabilization. And those Tensor G2 tools are part of the reason the new Pixel phones are among the best android phones available today.