iPhone 16 camera

By Justin Harris, 31 October, 2024

Forum
iOS and iPadOS

Hi all,
For anyone with the iPhone 16, have you had a harder time than before knowing if you are centered or not? It doesn't seem like voiceover is giving me as frequent updates, and when trying to use the new camera control, which I like the idea of, but it seems like I get my shot lined up, then when I go to press the button, it moves just enough to mess up my shot.
Are there any settings I should change to get more frequent and precise updates from Voiceover? Also, what would you consider the perfect angle and distance to get a decent selfie? I'm told that often I capture less of my face and what I'm trying to capture, and end up with a major case of selfie arm. Tips and tricks for blind photography are much appreciated. lol

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Comments

By Brian on Thursday, October 31, 2024 - 03:17

Hey Justin,

What a friend of mine and I have noticed on our iPhone devices, hers being an iPhone 16, and mine still being an SE3, is that even when the camera says itā€™s centered, you could be centered at the bottom, or center at the top. VoiceOver is not quite distinguishing exactly what ā€œcenteredā€ means these days.

Me thinks it is an iOS 18 issue, but keep practicing, and maybe you will find a workaround or fix.

By Justin Harris on Thursday, October 31, 2024 - 04:17

Well, glad it might not just be me then. lol That's the one thing I wish that Apple would steal from Google, as the Guided Frame thing sounds absolutely amazing!
Has your friend had similar issues with the camera control?
One thing I did real quick was to turn off the swipe gestures on it, because that was messing with all kinds of stuff. lol Once I did that, it seemed a bit better, but again, still can't get the camera nice and centered.

By Brian on Thursday, October 31, 2024 - 04:17

Mostly, she uses the Camera button along with Be My Eyes, for the be my AI function. Works very well for her. Also, I agree that Googleā€˜s camera assistance feature is very sweet.

By Justin Harris on Thursday, October 31, 2024 - 15:17

So quick question. If I want to keep the camera button set to open camera, if I am in BME, since it can also use the camera, for Be My AI, would a press of that button while in Be My Eyes still go ahead and snap a pic, or would it just open the camera app? Ideally, it should be able to recognize that it is in an app that also uses the camera and just take the pic, but will it, or in order to use that button with Be My Eyes, do you have to set the camera button specifically for that app?

By Geovanni Bahena on Thursday, October 31, 2024 - 16:17

Member of the AppleVis Editorial Team

Using that camera button to take a picture with Be my AI has been great. All you need to do is select the Be my AI tab, point the camera and hit that button.

By Justin Harris on Thursday, October 31, 2024 - 16:17

Man, just gave that a try, and you are right, it is fantastic! Thanks for the tip.

By Bingo Little on Thursday, October 31, 2024 - 16:17

It really does sound like you chaps are onto something special here. I have an iPhone 16 Pro Max and I did not realise you could use the camera button to open other apps. Am I correct in understanding that you are using the camera button to open Be My Eyes? Or are you opening Be My Eyes in the normal way, going to Be My AI and then just pressing the camera button to take a photo? If you are using the camera button to open Be My Eyes, how can I make that happen?

Also, I'm really rather lost with all the gestures you can make with this camera control. Long press, double long press, swipe and all that lark - I mean, I know what the gestures are but I can't really get a sense of what they do because Voiceover keeps chatting away about zoom levels. I'm not able to match a gesture up to zooming in or zooming out, for example.

any help much appreciated.

By Brian on Thursday, October 31, 2024 - 17:17

Hey Justin,

Looks like you got your answers before I could get on here. Good job! Lol.
Bingo, from what I understand, you have to open the app yourself, however, once it is open, pressing the camera button will take a photo from within that particular app. Meaning that it can use third-party apps to generally take photos. Therefore, I think you could do this with more than just Be My Eyes. Regarding gestures with the camera control, the only one I am aware of is the zoom feature. As I understand things, you slide your finger along the length of the button to zoom in or out for photos.

HTH. šŸ˜Ž

By Justin Harris on Thursday, October 31, 2024 - 19:17

You can actually turn the gestures off in camera settings, so that only presses work. Smartest thing you could ever do, as yeah, if they remain on, Voiceover never shuts up about zoom level, and doesn't really let you know about anything else.
I think you can actually tell the camera button if you want to use a different app, because there are other camera apps out there, but I think you are better off keeping it the way it is, at least if you use the regular camera at all, and then just opening be my eyes, and then pressing the button to take the picture.