I have found the translation from camera source feature useful in Google Translate and I use it from time to time. Last night was one such occasion, yet when I attempted to enable camera mode, I received the message shown in the screenshot, “Please install the latest Google app in order to use camera translation”. I currently have a Pixel phone and I have had the Google app disabled since shortly after I got it.
I left negative feedback on the Play Store after I discovered this new wrinkle as I feel Google thinks they have struck upon a way to prevent users from disabling or uninstalling the Google app. The developer responded that Translate camera is “now powered by Google Lens which is part of the Google app”.
I have been struggling to remember another occasion where an app has been dependent on the presence of another app to function in either Android or iOS. Besides the obvious Google shittiness, I feel like introducing these sorts of application interdependencies opens the door to… idk, something bad.
Thoughts?
Edit: As I have noted in the comments, this is not a problem unique to the Google Pixel phone. If the Google app is disabled on the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip4, the same behavior occurs.
Honestly, I’m kinda surprised that the live translation in Google Camera wasn’t dependent on other Google apps before - I thought all Google apps were developed with the assumption that the apps mandated for Android certification would be available, and that losing functionality if the user starts disabling stuff is fine.As to why it isn’t very common: Android conditions users to think of the apps as fully self-contained units. There’s no way to have Google Play suggest installing app B as an optional dependency when you install app A, and asking the user to install it during the first launch would go against common user experience wisdoms. The current best practice is to get the user up to speed as fast as possible, with every extra tap they have to make increasing the possibility of them leaving for another app.
But there are definitely apps that do use this. For example OpenTracks, a GPS tracking application, has no integrated map to show captured routes and instead expects the user to find another app that supports its API. Or GadgetBridge, an alternative companion app for many smart watches / fitness bands - it is common for these devices to have some weather forecast widget, but one of GadgetBridge’s design goals is to not to have internet access (to help with trust). So it has an API for weather provider apps to make this work.
Edit: First paragraph is toast, I misread the OP