iPhone 17 Pro Max Camera control is the dumbest, most useless, most in the way feature in smartphone history

[Melinn]

99% of the time, I literally forget it's even there. I have no idea why Apple thought it was a good idea or useful in any way.

Probably bc of people like me

 

[Zaydax333]

I set it to double click because I was also accidentally pressing it.

Yup this is what I did, perfect for using it as a quick shortcut to get to the camera and that that means I don't accidentally launch it.

 

[crouch]

Probably bc of people like me

Me as well! Love it, and use it nearly every day. Also find it very simple to use, especially the half-press to quickly change the zoom. That said, I’ve used cameras for years, and I’m use to the way this works.

Honestly think people would be well-off taking a class or two at the Apple Store so they can learn how their phones work 💪

 

[menist]

Sad to see at the event, they didn't even mention it, and their paid promoters (YouTubers) aren't even using it in their hands on videos 😅. Onscreen controls was and will always been more intuitive.

 

[Thats_Not_Marcus]

Coming from a 15PM I am intrigued by the camera control button on the phone. It will be interesting to see how it works.

 

[Melinn]

Sad to see at the event, they didn't even mention it, and their paid promoters (YouTubers) aren't even using it in their hands on videos 😅. Onscreen controls was and will always been more intuitive.

I think its the exact opposite. On screen is such a hassle and not intuitive, I never understood why it would be such a bad system for a device thats main goals are " taking calls and taking photoes" with. As said so many lost opputunities for when you need to take a photo/video not even a second too late. Button for photographers like me is the most intiutive there is.

 

[Melinn]

Me as well! Love it, and use it nearly every day. Also find it very simple to use, especially the half-press to quickly change the zoom. That said, I’ve used cameras for years, and I’m use to the way this works.

Honestly think people would be well-off taking a class or two at the Apple Store so they can learn how their phones work 💪

Exactly! I am a hobby photographer as well, love mys dslr. But the best camera is the one you had in hand at that exact moment when capturing something at a moments notice, so I film and shoot almost daily with my iphone

 

[Smoothie]

Light tough works here with a Tech Woven case. There may be an issue with the button on your case.

As an aside, I had to order a second case as the finish around the camera button on the first was terrible.

Thanks for the comment. I discovered the problem. A necessary setting wasn’t enabled.

 

[MothJab]

My 17 Pro Max has an Apple Tech Woven case on it. I can press the button to open the camera and shoot a photo or video but I can’t use any of the light touch functions. I assume the case interferes with it.

No check your settings. It works fine

 

[RPhoto]

Thanks for the comment. I discovered the problem. A necessary setting wasn’t enabled.

Good news 🙌

 

[RF2]

My 17 Pro Max has an Apple Tech Woven case on it. I can press the button to open the camera and shoot a photo or video but I can’t use any of the light touch functions. I assume the case interferes with it.

Had the same issue until I went to cam control settings and realized the light press functions were turned off. During the setup phase there’s a camera control screen where you can choose whether to use it or not, and I must have disabled it.

 

[barondebxl]

For quick access to the camera app, it's great. But that's about it.

I prefer the android approach, double tap the power button and there's camera control but in iOS obviously that's for apple pay stuff.

 

[timsutcliffe]

I've found it pretty handy - useful to be able to launch the camera when it's on the way out of the pocket to take a photo. The screen/camera does take a second or two to adjust to the new light levels though.

 

[cemark]

I don't understand people disliking it. Ever since I started to use iphone 15 years ago I have wished for a camera button on the side!

I take photoes and film videos of pets and nature etc almost everyday! And I have MISSED OUT SO MANY PRICELESS MOMENTS! Due to it taking too long to open the camera app up on the screen!

To me this camera control button is more then a decade too late. I hope they will always include this button on their phones bc its ridicolous to have to fumble with the screen everytime bc as said I have missed so many golden moments due to lack of a button

How long can it take to swiping to the left from lock screen? You dont even have to unlock your phone. Not only its useless also located at a very bad place.

 

[mquinn]

I prefer the android approach, double tap the power button and there's camera control but in iOS obviously that's for apple pay stuff.

Well on Apple double click the power button is Apple Pay so...

 

[barondebxl]

Well on Apple double click the power button is Apple Pay so...

Lol you can't be serious

 

[Apleeseed84]

I usually have no problem with it but I used the 17 pro during the weekend on Universal Hollywood and Disneyland and it took some of the most horrible pictures of all time. Some settings didn't work. RAW videos had one file corrupt on me using an external drive. I'm at a loss. Waking it from the camera button it's rough, and for some reason it keep focusing on aperture rather than zooming it. I'm not going to lie the 8x zoom was amazing when I used it but damn man, a lot of pictures came out blurry thinking the stabilization would had work

 

[Geoff777]

I was so excited for it last year. Got my 16PM, tried it once, hated it, never used it again. I was so disappointed. I thought it would allow for seamless zooming in and out while filming but that was a no. That function would have been life changing for me lmao but of course it doesn’t work that way 🙃

I have a 16PM and it zooms just fine when using video - 0.5 to 15x.

 

[stikle]

Lol you can't be serious

That is indeed the function as far back as at least the iPhone 14 Pro that I just upgraded from. Double click the sleep/awake button to activate touchless pay. THAT is a good implementation to me. Exceedingly easy to pay for things with a minimum of effort...when I bother to pull my phone out. Double click the button on my Apple watch and hold my wrist up to the reader. Done. Doesn't get any easier or simpler than that.

The camera control button has led to so many random pictures...I hate it. Time to explore the settings and set it to double click.

 

[crouch]

For those of you struggling with the camera control button, I got y’all. Here’s a good video going over the basics:

Pay attention to what she’s doing here! I promise you’ll get it in a few tries friends 💪

 

[Lab1]

My 17 Pro Max has an Apple Tech Woven case on it. I can press the button to open the camera and shoot a photo or video but I can’t use any of the light touch functions. I assume the case interferes with it.

I thought that, too. So, I took of my TW case and the experience was the same. I Googled the issue and via a YouTube video, I realized that the options in settings for it to work was toggled off. Once I toggled those on, it works as expected, with or without the case. See screenshot. You can also go into the Accessibility option at the bottom of this screen to fine tune. Perhaps this is your issue, as well?

 

[Böhme417]

its already well rumored that apple is not intending to use it in iPhone 18 phones.

something that gives credence to the above rumor is that it was not mentioned in this year's Keynote, at all.

i tend to think of it sort of like the Touch Bar, which was an adaptive display on some MacBook Pro models that changed based on the active application. which also was never popular, and also eliminated after a while.

Yeah, but the Touch Bar took keys away for that abomination. Camera control is just extra.

How long can it take to swiping to the left from lock screen? You dont even have to unlock your phone. Not only its useless also located at a very bad place.

Sometimes, it’s just a second or two too long. Annoyingly, sometimes my phone just refuses to swipe to the camera and I miss a picture.

 

[Gix1k]

The only thing I have ever used it for is quick camera access.