Pixel owners voice disappointment as Magic Eraser feature becomes unreliable

What used to be a quick touch-up tool is now sparking long threads across support forums and Reddit, with people saying Magic Eraser misses wires, smears textures, or simply finishes processing without changing the photo at all.

On Google’s Pixel community, one Pixel 8 Pro owner said results look worse than a year ago, with no alternate “versions” after an erase and fill patterns that blur or look unnatural.

A Product Expert stepped in to ask for examples and urged folks to send feedback with device logs or file bugs in the Android Issue Tracker, a sign that the team may be hunting for regressions tied to recent updates.

Another thread points to a different failure mode on Pixel Fold: a “connect to the internet for better results” message and edits that return the same image in a large share of attempts, even after switching networks or rebooting.

P.S. I also got this same message when testing Magic Eraser before writing this post. I unfortunately couldn’t grab a screenshot in time and wasn’t able to reproduce the issue again (with an active network).

Over on r/googlephotos, a popular post laments that the older version would auto-suggest things like power lines for one-tap cleanup, while the new build struggles to detect them and manual strokes no longer “snap” to the right areas.

In r/GooglePixel, others call the tool a “mess,” citing sloppy selections, blurrier fills, and a clunky editing flow compared to the previous editor.

Some of the frustration traces back to editor changes this summer, with users saying the original Magic Eraser behavior was replaced or altered as Magic Editor access shifted, leaving the current eraser feeling limited or inconsistent on device. A separate wave of posts complains that the tool is simply slower than before, which only makes the misses feel worse.

That said, as part of my testing, which I mentioned above, Magic Eraser fumbled the bag when I tried to erase an electricity pole from an image. The result was frankly bad. I expected something better, even if it wasn’t perfect.

But not all results were bad. I had a few cases, especially when erasing smaller objects, where the output was decent.

That gap between individual good results and widespread complaints explains why some users are now second-guessing the feature they once showed off to friends.

It’s unclear what exactly changed behind the scenes, which seems to have regressed Magic Eraser according to many, but let’s hope Google fixes it soon. With Gemini Nano Banana quickly becoming a widely used tool around the world, Google should have plenty of data to improve Magic Eraser too.

Feel free to share your experience with Magic Eraser lately in the comments below.