iOS 18.1 Beta 5 Adds New Selfie Option for Camera Control

With the fifth beta of iOS 18.1, Apple has made a small tweak to the Camera Control button that was introduced on the iPhone 16, ‌iPhone 16‌ Plus, iPhone 16 Pro, and ‌iPhone 16 Pro‌ Max.

iphone 16 capture button 2
When you dig into the Camera Control settings, there is now a way to set it to the front-facing camera without having to interact with the iPhone's display.

To get to the selfie camera, open up the Camera app with a press on the Camera Control button, and then use a swipe gesture on the button to scroll through the lenses. The person icon at the very top swaps to the front-facing selfie camera.

iphone 16 selfie camera control
Note that if you have Camera Control set to a different setting, you will need to open up the Camera app, activate Camera Control, and then tap on the screen to swap tools. The selfie camera and lens options are under the "Cameras" heading. The last tool you used will be the tool Camera Control opens with.

Prior to iOS 18.1, you could use this gesture to swipe through the different lens options, like 0.5x, 1x, 2x, and 5x (Pro only), but now it also includes the selfie camera to make it easier to get to all of the available lens options.

Related Roundups: iPhone 16, iPhone 16 Pro

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Top Rated Comments

msackey Avatar
8 months ago
I'm also surprised why such a seemingly simple concept wasn't already part of iOS 18.0 when released as general release. Why would it wait until iOS 18.1?
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
J InTech82 Avatar
8 months ago

I'm also surprised why such a seemingly simple concept wasn't already part of iOS 18.0 when released as general release. Why would it wait until iOS 18.1?
Probably an after thought.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Antes Avatar
8 months ago
the most useful function would have been to add a “Focus” button. Where I can slide the focus around or at least push the button instead of reaching for and tapping the screen
honestly the use ive had for it is for adjusting EV. Highly highly recommend turning off “Clean Preview“ in Settings. Not sure why this is on by default.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
contacos Avatar
8 months ago
Read this like 5 times and I still don't understand what that even means ? so far I only use this button to open the camera, everything else seems too complicated for something that is already shown on the screen anyway. The few times I tried it, it made my photos blurry because I was ever so slightly shaking the phone when I pushed the button. I also have a hard time differenciating between a press to take a photo and a press to get to the different options and don't care enough to figure it out either
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Kylo83 Avatar
8 months ago
You do realise it will takes ages to get to that option when where your thumb is on the screen is to switch to selfie cam, so why would any one use the camera button which will take a while to get to that option
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Kylo83 Avatar
8 months ago
Someone explain why someone would be so against using the touch screen like we always have the actual button to change to selfie or rear cameras is there where your thumb is? Plz someone explain how this is better
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)