Brady Snyder / Android Authority
Google Pixel phones, for better or worse, are defined by their software. Exclusive features, quarterly Pixel Drops, and seven years of Android OS updates separate Pixels from the competition. Google’s controversial use of custom Tensor chips is supposed to help some of those exclusive AI features run on-device.
And yet, a feature on my Pixel 10 Pro suddenly switched from using on-device processing to using the cloud without warning.
Pixel Screenshots, an app that summarizes and analyzes your screenshots with custom AI models, was originally touted as using the Gemini Nano with Multimodality model. Since all the processing happened on your device, I happily bought in. Everything changed last week when a quiet Pixel Screenshots update offloaded some processing to cloud servers. The app is no longer as fast or private as before, so why would I continue to use it?
I Trusted Pixel Screenshots, and It Changed Overnight
Brady Snyder / Android Authority
Pixel Screenshots is exclusive to the Pixel 9 and Pixel 10 series, excluding the budget A-series models. It’s one of the more polarizing Pixel-only apps from Google, as some view it as redundant when Google Photos already filters screenshots. As someone who takes many screenshots and never goes back to them, I found the app to be occasionally useful. It’s great for filtering screenshot categories, extracting links, and setting reminders to revisit specific screenshots.
I didn’t take any issue with Pixel Screenshots running wild with anything I screenshotted. Even when I captured sensitive or confidential information, that wasn’t an issue, because the app’s data never left my device. The on-device Gemini Nano model that powered Pixel Screenshots was a key perk, and even Google recognized it.
In a snippet from a Google Store magazine entry about Pixel Screenshots, following the Pixel 9 launch that is still live, Google advertised the on-device processing aspect of the new app:
This Pixel-exclusive app uses Gemini Nano with Multimodality – our latest on-device AI model – to save, organize, and easily recall the information embedded within your screenshots… Oh, and it does this all super fast since Pixel Screenshots runs on device – no internet connection needed.
Google was right. While cloud processing is best for intensive and complex tasks, on-device processing is quicker and more private for less demanding workflows. The privacy aspect is crucial, as your screenshots may contain personal information you don’t want leaving your Pixel phone and traveling to a Google server. Imagine my surprise to learn that the Pixel Screenshots app no longer uses on-device processing exclusively after the v1.26.134.11 update.
I didn’t learn about the change from a push notification or a pop-up in the Pixel Screenshots app — I read about it in an Android Authority article. That’s concerning because there’s an expectation that if an app is marketed as using on-device AI, it’ll stay that way. From what I can tell, aside from subtle changes to the Pixel Screenshots app settings page, Google didn’t properly communicate this change to users like me. It just flipped a switch in the background.
Even the official Play Store release notes for Pixel Screenshots omit the change. A simple message explaining the shift could’ve helped me make an informed decision about whether to use Pixel Screenshots now that it is using “a secure, isolated environment on your device or in the cloud.”
My Pixel Phones Analyzed My Screenshots Just Fine
Brady Snyder / Android Authority
There’s no doubt that offloading Pixel Screenshots processing to the cloud could enable more advanced features and preserve system resources. But as a Pixel 9 and Pixel 10 tester who has used Pixel Screenshots for nearly two years, I’m puzzled about what problem this change solves. Ask Photos in Google Photos already uses cloud-based AI to answer questions about my screenshots.
Pixel Screenshots did a fine job of organizing and reviewing my screenshots using the Tensor G4 and Tensor G5 chips and on-device Gemini Nano models. Now that cloud processing is in the mix, I have to consider privacy and security more than before. This isn’t the first time Google has shifted a Pixel feature from on-device to cloud processing, and it likely won’t be the last — but doing so silently, without any notification to users who specifically chose the app for its on-device privacy guarantees, is a breach of trust that Google should address directly.
