All iPhone 16 models have a new button: Camera Control. But what can you do with it?
One of the biggest surprises of the iPhone 16 is the new button: Camera Control. As the name suggests, this button is specifically for controlling the camera.
But what exactly are the functions behind this button and how can you use them? High time to take a closer look.
Camera Control on the iPhone 16
The iPhone 16 has two new buttons. The first is the Action button, which we already saw on the iPhone 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max last year. The second is the Camera Control button, which is new for the 16 Pro and 16 Pro Max.
The Camera Control button is located on the right side of your iPhone 16, below the power button. You can compare it to the touchpad of a MacBook, as it provides haptic feedback, giving the feeling that you are really pressing a physical button. In addition, the button can measure whether you press softly or hard, and different functions can be linked to this.
Camera Control. (Image: Apple)
Like a touchpad, the button can also be operated by swiping across it. As a result, the different sensors offer even more uses. This makes it easier and more intuitive to control the iPhone 16 (Pro)’s camera, allowing you to take faster and better pictures.
Camera Control features.
The Camera Control button is much more than just a shutter button on the iPhone 16, although you can use it for that as well. Like traditional still cameras, the button works in two stages: if you press it lightly, the camera focuses, and if you press harder, you take a picture.
But the button offers many more functions. Press the button lightly, and you can swipe to zoom in and out. When pressed twice, different options appear, which you can swipe through to choose, for example, which lens to use or what style the photo should be taken in.
For a bit more clarity, here are the moves you can enter via Camera Control on your iPhone 16:
A single click – Open the Camera app (or a third-party app).
A single click, Camera opened – Take a picture.
Click and hold – Open the Camera app and start a video recording.
Light pressure – Zoom in and out. This button will also lock focus and exposure (available this fall) to reframe shots without losing focus.
Double light pressure – Open the camera menu to choose various settings, such as exposure or depth of field.
Swiping – Switch between available adjustment options and change the zoom, exposure or depth of field when a setting is selected.
(Image: Apple)
Visual Intelligence
The Camera Control button also activates Visual Intelligence your iPhone 16. This allows you to take a picture, after which AI will immediately give you additional information. For example, if you take a picture of a concert poster, Visual Intelligence will immediately give you information about the event, including the ability to automatically put the date and time in your calendar.
Take a picture of a dog walking by? Then Visual Intelligence will tell you what breed it is via the Camera Control button. This feature is similar to Google’s Circle to Search, but without having to draw a circle around your subject. Thanks to Apple Intelligence, your iPhone 16 knows exactly what you’re looking for.
This feature will be available for the iPhone 16 later this year. However, there’s a problem for European users: you probably won’t be able to use the feature. Visual Intelligence falls under Apple Intelligence, and because of the European Union’s Digital Markets Act (DMA), Apple does not plan to launch its AI service in Europe for the time being.
