iPhone 16 Camera Control hidden feature might make it just right for vertical fans

Just touch it

· TechRadar

News By Lance Ulanoff published 24 September 2024

(Image credit: Future / Lance Ulanoff)

First of all, please stop calling the new iPhone 16 Camera Control a button....Just kidding. You can call it a button, but it is more than that. It's a multi-function control that accepts full presses, light presses, and gestures. And now I know that it works perfectly with on-screen controls.

As you may know from reading our extensive reviews of the iPhone 16 Pro, iPhone 16 Pro Max, iPhone 16, and iPhone 16 Plus, the new Camera Control, which sits on the right side of the latest phones, just below the power button, gives you instant access to your iPhone Camera app.

When you press it, a little control window appears on the Super Retina XDR display, right next to the physical button. It's a flexible black window that grows and shrinks depending on your control. So, the camera selection is slightly smaller than when scrolling through the main menu of exposure, depth zoom, cameras, styles, and tones.

In my experience, it's pretty easy to use all of these controls when holding the phone in a landscape position, which makes the Camera Control feel more or less like the shutter button on a traditional camera. Using it when the phone is in a vertical position, which I often do, is more awkward.

There is, it turns out, another way to use Camera Control: You can touch the screen.

I know that seems obvious, but once you start using Camera Control, you basically train yourself how to use a combination of single and double presses and sliding gestures on the button to control the camera. Touching the screen almost doesn't even occur to you, though I guess it should. 

After all, what's the point of having anything appear on the touch screen if you can't touch it?

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