Instagram is finally improving the camera and upload experience for Android users. During Google’s Android Show: I/O Edition event, the company announced several major upgrades for Instagram on Android, including Ultra HDR support, Night Sight integration, video stabilization, and better overall media quality.
The changes are part of a broader collaboration between Google and Meta to improve how Instagram works on Android devices.
One of the biggest additions is support for Ultra HDR photos inside Instagram’s in-app camera. Ultra HDR was introduced with Android 14 and allows photos to display brighter highlights, deeper contrast, and more vibrant colors while still remaining compatible with regular screens. Until now, Android users often complained that photos uploaded to Instagram looked noticeably worse compared to what they saw in their phone’s gallery app.
Google says Instagram will now better preserve image quality from capture to upload.
The company also confirmed that Android users will get support for Night Sight inside Instagram’s camera. Night Sight is Google’s low-light photography technology that uses computational photography and AI processing to improve photos taken in dark environments without relying heavily on flash.
This means Instagram users should now get cleaner, brighter, and sharper low-light photos directly from the app itself instead of switching to the native camera app first.
Meta is also adding built-in video stabilization support for Android users. This should help reduce shaky footage while recording videos or Reels using Instagram’s camera.
Android users have complained for years that social media apps often feel better optimized for iPhones than Android devices. Even flagship Android phones with powerful cameras sometimes produced lower-quality Instagram photos and videos due to poor app optimization.
The issue became even more noticeable after Ultra HDR support started appearing inconsistently across Android devices and Instagram accounts. Many users reported broken HDR uploads, SDR playback issues, stretched HDR Reels, and inconsistent brightness behavior.
Google now says it has optimized Instagram’s “capture-to-upload pipeline” to preserve image and video quality more accurately on Android devices.
According to the company, its internal tests showed that videos uploaded from flagship Android devices now score similarly or even better than competing platforms.
Instagram is also finally getting a proper Android tablet app. Early previews suggest the app is optimized for larger screens similar to the iPad version released last year.
Meanwhile, Meta’s Edits app is also receiving Android-focused AI upgrades. These include AI-powered upscaling tools and Sound Separation, a feature that can isolate or remove specific sounds from recordings.
Interestingly, this announcement shows how seriously Google is now treating Android’s creator ecosystem.
For years, many creators preferred iPhones mainly because social media apps were better optimized for Apple devices. Google now appears to be directly addressing that reputation problem by working closely with Meta on camera quality and media processing improvements.
Most of these features are expected to arrive later this year alongside Android 17.
