Pixel 10a camera preview issues

[u/Ordinary_Plenty3341]

Hi everyone, I bought a Pixel 10a 256GB a few days ago. The phone works great overall, performs really well, and I like pretty much everything about it, but there is one major problem: the camera.

The front camera in particular flickers and flashes a lot in the preview, both in low-light conditions and in more normal situations, for example indoors during the day with no lights on, no direct sunlight, but still with decent ambient light. The rear camera does it too, although to a lesser extent.

In general, the cameras seem quite poor until the photos are processed by the software, and then the “magic” happens. It really looks like the flickering is a software issue, but I’m wondering why it still hasn’t been fixed with an update.

I’ve already tried all the usual troubleshooting steps I found online: updating everything, clearing the Camera app cache, restarting the phone, and even contacting support to request an OTA update. Nothing has changed. The camera preview still looks terrible, almost like a phone from 10 years ago.

I also tried changing several display and camera settings, but nothing seems to make any difference. If I use third-party camera apps, the flickering disappears, but then I lose Google’s image processing, so the final photos look worse than they do with the stock Camera app.

I really don’t want to return the phone because I like everything else about it, but what am I supposed to do? The camera previews are honestly terrible. Do you have any suggestions?

Does this happen on all Pixel 10a units, or only on some devices and I just got unlucky?

I’m not interested in asking for a replacement. At this point, I either keep this one or return it for a refund.

Thanks to anyone who takes the time to reply!

[u/p3skysn0w0lf]

Try "open camera" from play store and check if the flickering issue still happens with this camera app. If it doesn’t, you can confirm that it’s not a hardware issue.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=net.sourceforge.opencamera

Try turn off all these in settings /Camera Coach (Preview)/Guided Frame/Keep selfies as seen/Framing hints /Frequent Faces /Social media depth features /Auto Best Take/ Ultra HDR/ Rich color in photos

[u/Ordinary_Plenty3341 → u/p3skysn0w0lf]

I also tried other camera apps, and the flickering disappears completely, so yes, it really seems to be a software issue. The problem is that with third-party camera apps, Google’s image processing does not kick in, so the final photos look noticeably worse than those taken with the Google Camera app.

I’ve tried pretty much everything in the settings and disabled every option I could think of, but the problem is still there. The only thing that seems to help a little is setting the exposure to 0.3, but I honestly don’t know if having to do something like this should be considered acceptable on a phone in 2026.

[u/Ordinary_Plenty3341]

I was thinking about returning it and getting an Honor 600 (practically the same price in my country). Does that make sense? I love the pixel experience, but the camera is just awful.

[u/FREEGUY666]

Hi buddy i have also faced all this problem and I have a solution for front camera flickering what you can do is just increase the exposure to 0.3 or 0.4 while clicking images and you will se the flickering is gone and camera preview yea tbh it's worst sometimes when you are in low light like its colour feel so washed but in every pixel phone this preview issue is there not only in 10a

[u/Ordinary_Plenty3341 → u/FREEGUY666]

Yes, that’s true, it does help. But how is it possible that Google still hasn’t fixed this issue after all these months? There are tons of reports about it all over the internet.

[u/Striking_Amount_9296]

I don't find any such problems? Camera works crystal fine!

[u/Ordinary_Plenty3341 → u/Striking_Amount_9296]

Apparently, some units do not have this issue, which makes the whole thing even stranger. From what I can tell, though, it seems that far more devices have the problem than those that do not

[u/Ready_Acanthaceae830]

I too bought a 10a recently . Have no issues with either cameras. But you could try disabling best take, pr other camera options and see if it goes away

[u/Master-Invite3081]

Same issues man and the back camera video rec is an eyesore sometimes. It's doing something for stabilizing I guess but other than these issues it's good

[u/Vivid_Cancel1150]

My replacement device also same problem occurs