I played for a couple months 2 years ago. It uses GPS to determine if you are at a Gym, Pokestop, or not. Users can submit pics for a new Pokestop, but in all that I’ve played, I’ve never used the AR features or submitted pics. A catch attempt looks like this, so does feeding berries and whatnot. There’s different backdrops for time of day if I remember. I barely give anything camera permissions and I keep my rear camera slide covered.