Whether you bought an iPhone 16 or iPhone 16 Pro when they debuted late last year, you’re no doubt already aware that both came with the addition of a new button. The Camera Control button can open the Camera app and help make taking photos feel more like a traditional camera, down to the feeling of snapping a shutter button. From there, you can also make important changes to your photo app that you might want to alter for better picture-taking.
But we’d be lying if we said the Camera Control is just an easier way to take snaps. In fact, there’s a whole wide list of everything this hard-to-miss control can do that you should know about. Not only is it an important component of Apple Intelligence — a way to pull up information on anything you point the camera at using the Visual Intelligence feature — but it can do so much more.
Watch this: See the iPhone 16’s New Visual Intelligence in Action
The Visual Intelligence button
Aside from photography, the most prominent use for the Camera Control button is for Visual Intelligence, a feature that uses Apple Intelligence to identify information that’s in front of the camera. That includes getting details about a restaurant, naming a dog breed and getting study aids via ChatGPT.
Using Apple Intelligence to identify a dog breed.
Click and hold the Camera Control button to activate visual intelligence, then press the button again to bring up information about whatever is in the frame.
If you aren’t interested in using Visual Intelligence, there are also options for two features that use the camera, but are not photo apps. They’re available for quick access using the Camera Control button. You could assign them to the Action button, but if that’s busy with something else — such as the Flashlight or any number of uses — you can effectively turn the Camera Control into a second Action button.
Get a magnified view
There are times when I’ve admired Sherlock Holmes for always carrying a magnifying glass — at least, that’s the popular image of the detective. When I need to read a serial number or even small print on a menu in a dimly lit restaurant, I break out my iPhone, open Control Center and turn on the Magnifier. Not only does it allow you to digitally zoom way in on something, you can turn on the flashlight to see even better.
But currently that’s a multistep process of unlocking the phone, swiping down to open Control Center and tapping the Magnifier button — which may not even be present, requiring more steps to add it.
Instead, jump right to the Magnifier using the Camera Control: Go to Settings > Camera > Camera Control and choose Magnifier.
Set the Camera Control button to launch the Magnifier when pressed.
Pressing the button now launches the Magnifier. But it’s not just a shortcut — apply a firm touch to it to bring up the Camera Control’s contextual overlay to zoom by sliding your finger along its surface. Double-touch it to switch between Zoom, Contrast, Brightness and Filters to change those settings without using the screen. (The Flashlight control isn’t included in the overlay, though, so you’ll need to activate it via the onscreen controls: Swipe up twice to reveal all of the magnify controls and tap the Flashlight button.)
Scan QR codes quickly
Do some people find themselves scanning QR codes so frequently that they need one-button access to the Code Reader feature? Perhaps. Then again, I went to the trouble of adding the Scan Code button to Control Center a while back because that was more convenient than using the Camera app.
Go to Settings > Camera > Camera Control and choose Code Scanner to assign the scanner to the Camera Control button. When it’s launched, the contextual control when you firm-touch the button lets you zoom in, something you can’t do otherwise.
Assign the Code Scanner feature to the Camera Control button.
It’s worth noting that Code Scanner has a few advantages over the Camera app. You can turn on the flashlight if you need more illumination, for one. It also loads the QR code’s destination in its own app space, versus opening it in the Safari app where it could add to the clutter of open browser windows.
Apple’s developer guidelines dictate that the Camera Control can be used only by apps that employ the camera, so we won’t see non-camera implementations for this button. But I can imagine other potential uses.
Maybe it could act as a quick document scanner to reduce the number of steps it takes to get a document into the Notes app. Or it could trigger the Live Recognition accessibility mode for people who can access the Camera Control button more easily than the Action button.
