This guide charts the optimal progression of a media creation-focused app from a likely starting place to best-in-class. It's designed to help you think about scaling your app over time, and what features to implement when. While every media creation app is different, consider these recommendations to achieve a best-in-class app.
Basic media creation
A basic media creation app provides users with a foundational experience, which may include doing the following:
- Use photo picker to access existing photos and videos.
- Support in-app image and in app video capture using CameraX.
- Handle camera orientation.
- Support automatic resolution.
- Switch between front and back camera.
- Support zoom and tap-to-focus.
- Support hardware flash.
- Handle multi-window camera access.
- Use the Android Sharesheet to share with other apps and targets.
Better media creation
A better media creation app gives users access to premium camera hardware, camera software, and media-editing features that:
Capture
- Use camera extensions: night mode, HDR, or bokeh.
- Have zero shutter lag.
- Support screen-based flash for selfie cameras.
- Use manual flash or torch controls.
- Use target resolutions.
- Have exposure compensation.
- Add an app widget so users can get start a capture flow from their home screen.
Edit
- With video trimming, cropping, and other built-in Media3 transformer effects.
- UltraHDR images, rotation, cropping, and scaling.
- Use image filters and transformations.
- Audio with audio effects.
Best media creation
A best-in-class media creation app gives users access to advanced features that really make the app stand out, such as:
Capture
- Use concurrent cameras: front-and-back simultaneous capture.
- Stream live with adaptive live streaming. Consider using performance class to help determine if the device can support concurrent camera capture.
Edit
- Support custom effects using Media3 transformer.
- UltraHDR images, transforming the gain-map appropriately for image filters and other operations.
- Audio with custom audio effects.