How to use the new iPhone 16’s Camera Control button

The iPhone 16/16 Pro’s new Camera Control button is almost as polarizing as politics. Some people love it; they think it makes it easier to take a quick photo than unlocking the iPhone with Face ID and launching the camera app. The button also provides quick access to Visual Intelligence latest iOS 18 update and can serve as an accessibility tool for people who struggle with mobility.

Other people hate the Camera Control button enough to call it the worst feature Apple has added to the iPhone. That’s too harsh, Taibut once you start using the Camera Control button for yourself, you can understand the point. The button is toward the bottom half of the iPhone, so you have to carefully balance the device with your index finger and thumb when pressing down to take a picture. If you don’t have the mechanism on your wrist, it causes the phone to shake a bit – the exact opposite of how you want the phone to move when you’re trying to take a picture. Apple has algorithms that help smooth out some of the jitters about Camera Control, but there’s still some cognitive dissonance. How can I trust that the picture I took is stable when I feel the iPhone shake while doing this?

If you’re new to the iPhone 16/16 Pro, you’re probably wondering about the utility of a button that no one wants. My job is to give you instructions after using the product myself so that you can use the feature that no one asked for. As I said, the Camera Control button is useful for taking photos quickly. But if you decide that the old way of taking pictures on your iPhone suits you better than this new thing, it can do a few other things.

Click to shoot

The Camera Control button on the iPhone 16 and 16 Pro is a physical button with the DNA of the MacBook trackpad. Press it down hard like you would with the power or volume buttons, or press down lightly for a soft press. The button area is capacitive, so you can control the interface by sliding your finger.

Double-click the Camera Control button to open the iPhone viewfinder. you can do press again to long press to take a photo or start recording a video. If you don’t press down at all, by default, you can use the Camera Control button to zoom in and out between camera lenses, including the 5x telephoto that Apple has included for both sizes. iPhone 16 Pro. you can touch it lightly Camera control Double-click to toggle through other settings, including exposure, depth, and iPhone 16’s new Photography styles.

The soft bass and scroll mechanism was very confusing at first. It took me a while to understand what a soft press with the Camera Control button is and recognize iOS’s interface animations when activated. If I stabilize the phone’s slide mechanism with my other hand, it’s easier to use.

If you have updated iOS 18.2Apple lets you control exposure and focus lock with the Camera Control slider. this easy to set up In the Settings app, though, you’ll need to do all of this before taking a photo.

Customize the Camera Control button

I am an Android user most of the timeand my favorite shortcut to access the camera app is to double press the power button. To that end, I also didn’t notice that the Camera Control button required a double press before it would activate. But after one click I went for a faster shortcut to launch it. Apple lets you do that Parameters. Underneath Camera controltap to choose between one or two clicks to launch the camera.

The Camera Control button can also be adjusted or used as accessibility tool for people with accessibility needs. Underneath Settings > Accessibility > Camera controlyou can adjust the firmness of soft and hard button presses and even choose how strong the press should be.

You don’t even need to use it

you don’t have to use it Camera control Click the button to launch the iPhone camera app. If you look again in the iOS settings panel, under the Camera Control settings, you can program it to launch something else, albeit with limited options. You can choose between a built-in QR code scanner, a magnifier to magnify small real-life text, or any third-party apps that have implemented the new hardware. You can also disable the Camera Control button entirely if it interferes with the rest of your iPhone experience.