Chrome is one of the first things I disable on my Android devices, and I hate the idea of signing up for any accounts just to access local files.
But Canon welcomed me with a big surprise, and a fuck you, too!
Chrome is one of the first things I disable on my Android devices, and I hate the idea of signing up for any accounts just to access local files.
But Canon welcomed me with a big surprise, and a fuck you, too!
100% Canon announced this last month, ironically on April Fool’s Day!. Funny, that they say it makes the experience “more convenient and enjoyable”.
Yeah, it was fine before, when you’d open the app, connect to your camera, and download the images.
We’ve got several Canon cameras, and you cannot proceed to use the app unless you log in. This isn’t to allow for cloud storage or anything like this. This is to do ANYTHING through the app, including location data tagging, live view, etc.
So instead of just mounting the camera as storage, they require a proprietary app using a surveillance-packed web browser? Yeah, I’d be returning that pile of awful.
You can connect the camera direct via USB and mount as storage without the app. Though it’s only USB2 speeds lol. The app allows you to transfer over wifi which is dumb because it only lets you do that with jpgs. It won’t transfer raw files wirelessly. I just pull the card and use a fast card reader.
I personally only use the app as a bluetooth remote shutter release.
But many people also use the app to auto geotag their photos, as not many canon cameras have built in GPS.
Yeah that’s what I was thinking. Why even need an app? The camera stores the pictures on an SD card anyway (probably). If the app is nice and has some extra features like being able to pick the best shot from a series, fine, but I somehow doubt that it does more than transfer pictures lol
It allows you to grab an image, develop the RAW, do a quick edit on your phone or tablet, upload to socials, share with friends, etc. If that’s your thing.
You can also use it to geotag your photos/files automatically with the gps in your phone. It does firmware updates as well.
Also does remote shooting including allowing you to change exposure settings without touching the camera. Useful for photo and video in that respect.
I just uninstalled it. Going to keep using my usb-c hub with included SD card reader if I need to get at my media before I can get to a computer.
It’s for transferring pictures over the wifi network or a local wifi network that the camera is hosting. If you have the SD card plugged in, there’s absolutely no reason to use the app instead of your phone’s file manager. I don’t even think the app will recognize an SD card, but I don’t really know. It might recognize a plugged in camera, but it doesn’t advertise that and I’ve never tried.
You can still use the camera as an MTP device via a USB cable without any app. Just not wirelessly; that connection is proprietary (-ish, there are third party apps on some platforms).
Oh OK, so this nightmare existing is only for wifi use. I imagine that would also be slower, especially if these cameras support USB-C.
So, ads? You’d figure the account would provide extra features (that we didn’t need) but this doesn’t even give anything to the user.
It doesn’t really make it any better, but at least they let you opt out of data collection after creating the account (you know, when they have already collected your email, first and last name as well as camera serial no.) 🙄
And there is no other way to access the camera from your phone? Cant you just mount it as a storage medium over USB? Or if all else fails just use a USBC card reader dongle…
It’s more than just file transfer, unfortunately.
If you want to control your camera through the app, or geotag photos… you now have to use an account that connects to Canon (and probably 1001 “partners”).
Well then the title is just misleading i guess. If you need an app for extra features, they will harvest your data anyways even without an account. Unless the app was working without internet access before. The mistake is buying a camera that requires an app that isnt using an open protocol and expecting Canon not to make use of their software lock in thumb screws. In a year they will want a monhtly subscription fee for you to use the app.
It was.
To ge fair, these cameras were purchased before the Golden Age of Enshittification.
As hardware features like built-in GPS were offloaded to apps, choices became slim.
Its somewhat unavoidable with some things, i have to admit.
Is it this app? https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=jp.co.canon.ic.cameraconnect
Im sure this can be reverse engineered relatively easily if it connects over WiFi, because you can just sniff all the traffic quite easily.
I hope you havent installed any firmware updates recently, because they will surely try to prevent people from doing so and actively work to break existing 3rd party apps or older official app versions.
Edit: Nvm i saw you managed to downgrade the app.