I’m a camera nerd, but there’s something strange about the iPhone 16’s camera control button

Remember a few years ago when rumors and leaks predicted that Apple would remove all buttons from future iPhone models? Well, it’s 2024 and the iPhone 16 and 16 Pro show that nothing could be further from the truth. Apple added the Action button to the iPhone 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max last year, replacing the noble and useful mute/silence switch. And this year, the customizable shortcut now appears on all professional and non-professional models of the iPhone 16. Now more of us can order coffee from Dunkin’ with the Action button.

And Apple didn’t stop there by adding another physical iPhone button: the Camera Control button, which is essentially a camera shortcut that also lets you set photo settings.

But even for a camera geek like me, there’s something strange about the new Camera Control button on the iPhone. The compromised location on the bottom side of the iPhone makes it awkward to use, which puts it at odds with its role as an essential photo-taking tool.

And while minute control over exposure or tone mapping is well in place on the Pro models, it seems strange for iPhone 16 and 16 Plus owners. The truth is, it feels like Apple designed the button primarily to enable Visual Intelligence, the iPhone’s answer to Google Lens, and that all camera functionality (for taking photos and toggling image settings on the fly) is intended was like a nice-to-have – not the main function of the button.

Regardless of what Apple’s true intention behind the Camera Control key was, the button’s exciting touch interactions could easily be applied to other non-camera apps, like swiping through TikTok or scrolling through iPhone news and social feeds. But for now, the Camera Control button feels like unrealized potential.

The Camera Control key is not a shutter button

A modern camera shutter release is something that has been refined and optimized countless times over the past 136 years. It’s something that’s so standardized that it doesn’t need to be reinvented, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be reimagined to be better suited to a phone. And when the Camera Control button was introduced at the Glowtime event, I thought Apple had done that.

The Camera Control key is a combo button/slider whose hardware is reminiscent of the side-mounted fingerprint reader/power buttons on Android phones like the Galaxy Z Flip 6 and Moto G Power 5G. The new button can be used to open the camera, take a photo and record a video. You can also double-press it lightly to open an attractive mini-menu of camera tools, such as one for a zoom tool that, when selected, lets you slide your finger over the button to zoom in and out, almost like a miniature MacBook trackpad. There is definitely a learning curve when using it; After almost three weeks I feel like I’m starting to get the hang of it.

You can also set it to adjust the “aperture” for portrait mode photos, so the background looks more or less blurred. My favorite use is swiping through Apple’s new Photographic Styles to preview different looks before taking a photo. Of course, all of this is easier to do if you have the luxury of inputting everything. Otherwise, I find that the button works best to open the camera and using on-screen controls feels faster to me than using the button to open the camera. same task.

For all its usefulness, it’s missing a feature that could potentially be even more useful: you can half-press the button to lock focus and exposure, like the shutter button on a professional mirrorless camera or DSLR. Apple has said this would be added to iPhone 16 Pro models in the future.

We’ve seen dedicated shutter buttons on phones for decades, even before Android existed, and those buttons usually have a lot more in common with the actual shutter button on a dedicated camera, both in their placement (in the bottom right corner of a phone) and shape: round or cylindrical. This means that if Apple wanted this button to be primarily for controlling the camera, would it no longer resemble the shutter button we see on phones like the Sony Xperia series?

The new button is below the power button and flush with the side of the iPhone, which is nice. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve mounted an Android phone with a shutter button on a tripod, just to let the grip press down and take a series of photos. But the size and location of the iPhone Camera Control button don’t seem ideal, at least not for my hands.

When I hold the phone with one hand (I’m right-handed) to take a horizontal photo, I usually have my index finger along the side to get a good grip on the phone, and that can accidentally interact with the camera control key. When I hold the phone vertically, the camera control button becomes hidden deep in my palm. The placement seems like a compromise aimed at making the new button viable whether used horizontally or vertically, rather than making it ideal for horizontal use only like most of the phone’s other shutter buttons.

I don’t think this is a case of Apple over-designing the iPhone’s new camera button. But it could be that the button was designed for something completely different and the camera control aspect was intended as a bonus feature.

Here is the new Visual Intelligence button

The Camera Control key seems ideally suited for the yet-to-be-released Visual Intelligence, which will add context to whatever your iPhone’s cameras are pointed at, like Google Lens. Unfortunately, it won’t arrive until later this year. If the iPhone 16 series had launched with a Visual Intelligence key, it would make a lot more sense for it to be available on all iPhone 16 models. I imagine many more people use the button to open the Visual Intelligence tool than change exposure settings in the Camera app.

So in this regard it makes sense to rename the Camera Control button, otherwise Apple would have to explain why there’s a brand new, flashy button on the iPhone that does nothing until Visual Intelligence is off.

Clearly, Apple won’t be the first to have a dedicated hardware button that activates a virtual assistant. We’ve been seeing Google Assistant hardware buttons on Android phones for years. A Visual Intelligence key on an iPhone therefore makes perfect sense. And for all its shortcomings as a dedicated camera button, it’s actually well-positioned and better suited for someone to press and trigger a search on whatever the camera is looking at.

Apple also said it is giving developers access to the new button to add to certain photography-focused apps. This week the developer Lux announced it adds support for the Camera Control button to its Halide app. You can already use it to open the Instagram app.

But I wish the button’s touch-and-slide functionality could be used in other apps, like scrolling through social media feeds and stories. It could be the elegant 2024 version of BlackBerry’s iconic scroll wheel. The position, size and functionality already seem like a better fit as a system-wide input for whatever you’re doing on your iPhone than just an Apple-approved shutter release.

Final thoughts (for now) on the camera control button

Years ago, Galaxy S phones had a special Bixby key to activate the digital assistant and there was almost immediate backlash against Samsung for locking the hardware key only work with Bixby. Hopefully the camera control button/Visual Intelligence key doesn’t meet the same fate.

The fact that the new button will work for two key iPhone functions ultimately gives it an edge over Samsung’s Bixby key — even if Apple’s new phones currently lack the button’s biggest use case: visual intelligence. I should note that Samsung later allowed Galaxy phone owners to remap the button to a shortcut of their choice. Only time will tell if Apple should ever do the same.