The “Photochrome filter” on the 5MP Color Filter Camera of the OnePlus 8 Pro had the ability to see-through thin plastic materials such as a remote or a game controller. The much-hyped color filter camera was disabled by the OEM through an OS update. Nonetheless, the camera setup is good enough with 48MP main shooter at the back. But just in case you still want to try out the feature, the color filter camera can be accessed through a concealed app and can be used to your advantage (read creativity).
This was revealed by XDA Member piskel who has identified that the OnePlus 8 Pro Photochrome filter is still accessible despite OnePlus claiming to have disabled it globally through the release of OxygenOS 10.5.9. piskel notes the feature is “accessible through the Factory Mode app” in the latest update on the OnePlus 8 Pro.
There is a catch though – the app has to be launched through Android Debug Bridge (ADB) – tool that lets developers access certain features on Android, which are not visible to users. Once the Factory Mode app is launched via ADB, it can be kept locked to be accessed independently the next time.
Objectively speaking, the see-through feature can only let you create x-ray-like images of very thin plastic objects. The usage of this color filter for a general user seems largely insignificant. But if you want it anyway – you can connect your 8 Pro to ADB and run the command:
adb shell
am start -n com.oneplus.factorymode/.camera.manualtest.CameraManualTest
This command will kick off the Factory Mode app. When in the app, locate the camera switcher, toggle through different cameras to number 4 within the app. This is the color filter camera that you want. As we have reported earlier – the camera can be pointed at home assistants, gaming consoles, and remote controls to reveal their innards – you can try other possibilities.
