One of the Pixel 6 exclusives that has gotten a lot of attention is the Magic Eraser. As fun as it is, it relies on certain versions of the Google Photos app, and the latest photo update on the Pixel 6 seems to completely remove Magic Eraser from the app.
Little Reddit users have found This morning, an update to the Google Photos app via the Play Store removed the Magic Eraser gadget from Pixel 6 devices. This is clearly not by design, but appears to be related to Photos version 5.67.0.409192963.
Reports about the rollout and removal of this update so far have been limited to a few users, but this appears to be due to the limited introduction of the app version so far. We have not yet been able to reproduce the issue because the update did not reach our Pixel 6 devices through the Play Store.
Unofficially fixing this issue can be difficult as certain versions of the Photos app are required to enable Magic Eraser on Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro, so sideloading is not an easy fix.
It’s possible that Google will fix this problem sooner rather than later, but in the meantime, Pixel 6 owners would be wise to turn off automatic updates to make sure they don’t lose functionality. This can be done via the Play Store under Settings > App download settings > Auto-update apps. Alternatively, you can deactivate automatic photo updates in the App Store menu under the three-dot menu at the top of the screen.
Update 11/13: Google confirmed in the edge The company is working to solve this problem. The update has since been pulled from the Play Store.
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