The iPhone is packed with hidden tricks, including many camera features beyond just taking photos and videos. Let’s explore some of the most useful iPhone camera tricks.
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Burst Mode
To activate burst mode, which captures a rapid succession of photos (sometimes several per second), press and slide the shutter button to the left. You can then review the captured images in the gallery or the Photos app to choose the best ones and delete the rest.
Multiple Shutter Button Functions
We’ve mentioned that the shutter button can trigger burst mode. But it also has other secrets, more like shortcuts. For instance, holding down the button allows you to record a video. Releasing the button stops the recording. If you hold down the button while recording a video, you can also slide up to zoom in.
While holding the shutter button down during video recording, sliding to the right keeps the video recording without needing to keep your finger pressed down. This action also reveals a new button to the right of the shutter, which you can press to take photos while recording a video.
Using the iPhone as a Magnifying Glass
The iPhone can transform into a highly effective digital magnifying glass thanks to its camera. There are several ways to activate it. The simplest is to use the Magnifier app available on your iPhone.
You can also set up a shortcut to launch it in Settings > Accessibility > Accessibility Shortcut. By triple-clicking the side button (right side), it will launch the Magnifier app.
You can zoom in, freeze the image, adjust brightness, and even add additional features like contrast filters and black-and-white. It’s possible to add the Magnifier app to the control center and/or the lock screen.
Scanning QR Codes
Since iOS 11, the Camera app automatically recognizes QR codes.
Simply point your iPhone’s camera at a QR code and the link will be automatically retrieved.
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Using the iPhone as a Webcam
If you don’t have a quality webcam at home, there’s a cost-effective solution: use your iPhone! We even wrote a special article about it.
In any video conferencing software, you can use your iPhone as a camera or as a microphone. You need to have activated the Continuity setting beforehand, and both your iPhone and Mac should be on the same Wi-Fi network with Bluetooth enabled. For more details, you can read this Apple article.
Identifying Plants and Animals
You can use your iPhone’s camera to recognize a plant or an animal. Just take a photo and check it in the Photos app. Tap the circled ‘i’ (information button) for additional details on the image, and the iPhone will attempt to identify the type of plant or animal in the photo.
If the iPhone recognizes what it is, you’ll see a symbol with stars at the bottom of the photo.
You can also perform a web search related to what the iPhone has identified. Note that this also works with the Photos app on the Mac.
These AI-enhanced recognition tools generally work well. However, they can easily be misled, as you can see above, where Visual Intelligence mistook my Lego plant for a real one…
Copying or Translating Text
If you show your camera some text, whether on a sheet, a poster, or a sign, your iPhone will allow you to capture it. You can then copy the text and not just that. To do this, aim the camera at something with text. You will then see an icon with three lines. Click on it and you will be able to copy the text as well as translate it or perform a corresponding web search.
Understanding Clothing Care Symbols
Some clothing items have ideograms that tell you how to care for your garments. However, they aren’t always clear. Luckily, the Camera app can easily decode them for you. Just take a photo of your label, and the information button will show the meaning of each icon.
Scanning with the iPhone
I used to have a scanner or a printer/scanner to digitize documents. In recent years, there have been apps that turn your iPhone into a scanner. But know that the iPhone can do this natively. For that, go to the Notes app and tap the paperclip icon. Several options will be presented, such as taking a photo to integrate into the note but also scanning text or documents.
You can choose to scan in color or black and white. The iPhone will automatically recognize the shape of the document to make it appear perfectly rectangular. If it’s not, you can adjust the shape by touching the corners to position them correctly.
Launching Visual Intelligence
iOS 18 brought a host of new features, such as Apple Intelligence. Within Apple Intelligence, there is a feature called Visual Intelligence. There are several ways to launch it. The first is to hold down the camera control button. You can also use the Action button by customizing it to launch Apple Intelligence.
Visual Intelligence can also be added to the lock screen and the control center.
Visual Intelligence has two buttons: Query and Search. Search allows you to Google the object photographed. Query allows you to ask questions about what the camera sees to ChatGPT.
If you take a photo of a store front, Visual Intelligence can provide details like hours or a menu for a restaurant. If you show text to Visual Intelligence, it can generate a summary, translate it, or read it aloud to you. Interestingly, the reading continues even if you exit the app, similar to how music or a podcast plays.
If Visual Intelligence sees an email, it can suggest sending a message to the recipient. Similarly, if it sees something that looks like an event, Visual Intelligence can suggest saving it in your calendar. I am often amazed by the capabilities of Visual Intelligence. Paired with ChatGPT for queries, it works well.
For example, I have a roller shutter with a three-button remote: one to raise, one to lower, and one for a remembered position. However, this remembered position didn’t suit me, and I didn’t know how to change it. I asked Visual Intelligence, which ultimately means asking ChatGPT, and it instantly recognized the model and explained how to adjust it. Magical.
And you, which superpowers of the iPhone camera do you use?