iPhone 16 Camera Control button -- the ultimate guide

AppleInsiderAppleInsider
Posted:
in iPhone

The Camera Control button, or what we presumed was going to be called the Capture Button, is a new physical control on the side of the entire iPhone 16 lineup. Here's everything you need to know, and how to get the most out of it.

Camera Control button interface on display in the camera app with a pile of vegetables on the iPhone's screen
Use the Camera Control button to improve your photos



Apple's Camera Control buttin is both physical and touch sensitive. With a firm press it will click like a real button, but a light-press gives you Taptic feedback like with Apple's Mac trackpads.

Using Camera Control on iPhone 16



The Camera Control button starts with that first press. Once you press it, by default, the Camera app opens.

The Camera Control button on the side of the ultramarine iPhone 16
Both iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Pro lines get the Camera Control



With a second press, it will take a photo or video -- depending on the camera mode you have selected.

It's very fast and easy to do. It's similar to how you could program the Action Button, but more feature-rich and dedicated solely to the camera.

Pressing the Camera Control button in the Camera app
Pressing the Camera Control button in the Camera app



While in the Camera app, you can press and hold on it to start recording a video. If you release, the capture will end unless you hit the record button on-screen.

If you light-press the button, you'll see the screen flex in and a new UI appear. Zoom is default but you can change the control by double light-pressing.

The depth setting pulled up in the Camera app in the Camera Control button menu
There are several controls to pick from when using the Camera Control button



On our iPhone 16 Pro, the controls are exposure, depth, zoom, cameras, styles, and tone. Double light-press to open the menu, swipe left and right to choose from, then light-press again to select.

Sliding your finger on the screen to zoom when you press the Camera Control button
Sliding your finger on the screen to zoom when you press the Camera Control button



With any control selected, you can again swipe left and right to make adjustments. Like zooming in and out, adjusting the look of the photo, or applying more background bokeh.

Sometimes, swiping the button repeatedly is annoying and slow. Like zooming in all the way.

The new Camera Control button on the side of the white iPhone 16 Pro
The new Camera Control button on the side of the white iPhone 16 Pro



Fortunately, you can slide your finger on-screen too and adjust that Camera Control menu from there without the size limitation of the button.

Customizing the Camera Control button



By default, the Camera Control button opens Apple's own stock camera app. Fortunately, Apple has opened this up to developers via a new set of APIs.

Settings menu on the iPhone with other camera apps you can use for the Camera Control button
You can choose which camera app the new Camera Control button launches



Third-party devs can start building this into their own apps and several excellent ones have been updated so far to add support.

We've tested out Halide, ProCamera, Obscura, Moment Pro Camera, and Instagram. All of which were quickly to adopt it and have varying degrees of features outside of just launching their apps.

You can adjust this by:

      Install and launch any supported apps like those above
        Go to Settings > Camera > Camera Control
          Choose another of the available apps from the list
        From this Settings menu you can also assign the button to other camera-related titles, like the QR code scanner or magnifier. Of course, setting it to "nothing" is also an option.


        You can adjust the firmness of the light-press within accessibility

        One last setting you may want to tweak is the pressure sensitivity. This is found in the Accessibility settings.

        Adjust the Camera Control pressure sensitivity by:
            Go to Settings > Accessibility > Camera Control > Light-Press Force
              Choose lighter, firmer, or default
            Cases

            In a bit of a deja vu moment to last year's Action Button, many case manufacturers were caught flat-footed in how to design around the Camera Control button.

            Since the button is touch-sensitive, they can't cover it the same way they can the other four buttons. Some got info ahead of time from Apple, others gambled on a solution, while others are still reacting.


            Apple's silicone cases have a sapphire Camera Control button cover

            Apple, of course, managed to design a cover for its first-party clear and silicone cases. They use a piece of color-matched sapphire on top of a conductive layer to cover the button.


            Spigen was one of the few that added a Camera Control cover

            Long-time Apple partner OtterBox has a button cover on some of its cases while Spigen and Supcase guessed right this year. Many of these third-party cases use copper, rather than sapphire like Apple.


            Many opted to play it safe and leave a bit cutout on the side to remain compatible.

            Most though have cutouts or holes on the sides of their cases. Depending on the case, this can make the button hard to use, especially on particularly thick cases. Read on AppleInsider

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 10
    jas99jas99 Posts: 163member
    I think this is really innovative and I like it.
    mike1williamlondon
  • Reply 2 of 10
    mike1mike1 Posts: 3,409member
    Love this. Already making my life easier and I am sure I will use some more of the features and adjustments as I get more familiar.
    Waiting to see how the leather case manufacturers handle this before changing out the clear case I got with the phone.
    edited September 26 williamlondon
  • Reply 3 of 10
    charlesncharlesn Posts: 1,070member
    Some quick thoughts after experimenting with Camera Control for a couple of hours this morning:

    The Good:
    • Very intuitive: just plunging in with no guide, it took me all of 2 minutes to figure out how to access, scroll through and select the various functions. 
    • Not fussy or fidgety! This was a surprise after reading reports to the contrary. YMMV, of course, but using the default pressure setting, I had no problem with the single or double light presses, or the slider at the top of the button. 
    • Love having a screen cleared of the usual control icons so I can focus on just the image I'm trying to capture.
    • Good to have another way to immediately access the camera app. 
    • Fantastic that third party camera apps like Halide and ProCamera are already supporting Camera Control. New interfaces like this from Apple have often died out from a dearth of third party support. (I'm looking at you 3D Touch and Touch Bar.) Seems like this one will be different. 

    The Not-So-Good
    • Why can't I decide which camera functions get assigned to Camera Control? I often toggle between 4:3 and 1:1 Aspect Ratios, so I'd love to have that at my fingertip for switching, but no-can-do. At least for now, you're stuck with the ones Apple has assigned to it, and there are a couple I will never use, so a partial waste of this feature for me. Likewise, why can't Apple give us three app choices to be called up by the Action Button, based on whether it's a single, double or triple press? I know I can use Short Cuts, but this functionality belongs in the Action Button settings and shouldn't be a kludge using Short Cuts. 

    The Bad
    • So... the bad is pretty bad. At least I think so. Using Camera Control for shutter release isn't a haptic press, it's actually pressing down on the physical button which requires more force than you would expect. Definitely more force than using the volume button for shutter release. The problem is that phone cameras are very light weight, so when I pressed with enough force to release the shutter, I inevitably pushed the right side of the phone down a bit, too, which causes camera shake and your image to be slightly askew. I had to really focus my concentration on not allowing the phone to move, which isn't where I want my concentration to be when capturing an image. You can adjust the force for haptic presses, but not for the physical button that releases the shutter. My workaround was to use my left thumb, which was positioned under the phone and resting on the volume button anyway--as mentioned, shutter release with the volume button is a light press that doesn't move the camera. The other workaround is to just use the screen. But as it stands, I find Camera Control unusable for shutter release. 
    edited September 26 roundaboutnowelijahg
  • Reply 4 of 10
    SxyGayjustSxyGayjust Posts: 35member
    charlesn said:
    • So... the bad is pretty bad. At least I think so. Using Camera Control for shutter release isn't a haptic press, it's actually pressing down on the physical button which requires more force than you would expect. Definitely more force than using the volume button for shutter release. The problem is that phone cameras are very light weight, so when I pressed with enough force to release the shutter, I inevitably pushed the right side of the phone down a bit, too, which causes camera shake and your image to be slightly askew. I had to really focus my concentration on not allowing the phone to move, which isn't where I want my concentration to be when capturing an image. You can adjust the force for haptic presses, but not for the physical button that releases the shutter. My workaround was to use my left thumb, which was positioned under the phone and resting on the volume button anyway--as mentioned, shutter release with the volume button is a light press that doesn't move the camera. The other workaround is to just use the screen. But as it stands, I find Camera Control unusable for shutter release. 
     You've got to be doing something wrong if the phone is actually moving when pressing the Camera Control button. I have a SupCase on mine which covers the Camera Control, and even with that, it does not take must effort to depress activate the shutter or start a video, certainly not enough to cause camera shake.
    williamlondon
  • Reply 5 of 10
    charlesncharlesn Posts: 1,070member
    SxyGayjust said:
    charlesn said:
    • So... the bad is pretty bad. At least I think so. Using Camera Control for shutter release isn't a haptic press, it's actually pressing down on the physical button which requires more force than you would expect. Definitely more force than using the volume button for shutter release. The problem is that phone cameras are very light weight, so when I pressed with enough force to release the shutter, I inevitably pushed the right side of the phone down a bit, too, which causes camera shake and your image to be slightly askew. I had to really focus my concentration on not allowing the phone to move, which isn't where I want my concentration to be when capturing an image. You can adjust the force for haptic presses, but not for the physical button that releases the shutter. My workaround was to use my left thumb, which was positioned under the phone and resting on the volume button anyway--as mentioned, shutter release with the volume button is a light press that doesn't move the camera. The other workaround is to just use the screen. But as it stands, I find Camera Control unusable for shutter release. 
     You've got to be doing something wrong if the phone is actually moving when pressing the Camera Control button. I have a SupCase on mine which covers the Camera Control, and even with that, it does not take must effort to depress activate the shutter or start a video, certainly not enough to cause camera shake.
    After decades in photography, I know my way around a shutter button. PetaPixel did an in-depth, 25 minute review of the 16 Pro/Pro Max camera system from a camera professional's perspective and had the same critique of excessive pressure needed for shutter release, causing the same issues. But hey, if it works for you, have at it. 
    sflagelelijahgwilliamlondongrandact73
  • Reply 6 of 10
    yellowtonkatoyyellowtonkatoy Posts: 7member
    Curious as to whether or not he Camera Control button can be configured to open the fairly recent Final Cut Camera app?
    williamlondon
  • Reply 7 of 10
    hmlongcohmlongco Posts: 563member
    I found the Camera Control button to be finicky, especially in regard to accidentally triggering settings changes just by resting my finger on the control.

    The setting that changed how this works for me in is Accessibility > Camera Control, where you can change the trigger from a light-press to a swipe.
    paisleydiscofelix01grandact73MrBunside
  • Reply 8 of 10
    paisleydiscopaisleydisco Posts: 135member
    The camera button is an innovative feature for a smart phone. But it's not fun to use. Apple kinda missed the mark on this. 
    I've been trying to adjust and get used to the feel of it. Doesn't seem as easy or fluid as advertised. Hopefully with time muscle memory will take care of it.

    The so called 'half-press' is annoying with zero tactile feedback. Basically your finger is blindly pressing down softly. And when that doesn't work you press down hard and it triggers the shutter. Oops! LOL
    grandact73
  • Reply 9 of 10
    MrBunsideMrBunside Posts: 60member
    for me it's the new "button I accidentally press 10 times a day".

    That honor used to go to the volume up + side button. There were so many unwanted screenshots. I finally trained myself to handle the phone by its lower half—just in time for someone to stick a button there, too. 
  • Reply 10 of 10
    crazyexcaliburcrazyexcalibur Posts: 35member
    I don’t like the position of the button mostly. I find my hand covers some of the screen when taking pictures. The right side of the screen, about a quarter of it is blocked. Maybe I have tiny hands, but just holding by the frame doesn’t work for me, I have move my hand slightly in front of the screen to reach. As someone mentioned, flipping it so the button is on the left thumb feels better but the camera is now positioned at the bottom. I guess it will take some adjusting.
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