Depth effect on/off

[eclipse01]

I have some older photos in my library that won't allow the depth effect on the lock screen.

What does that mean, i'm pretty sure they were shot on an older iphone, but what is the phone looking for for this option to be enabled?

 

[lkalliance]

I'm wondering about that too. I've been playing around with the background removal in Photos, and I just assumed that if there is a subject and you can remove the background there, that you can use the same photo with the depth effect on the lock screen...but now I'm not sure. The AI might be looking for some other kind of composition or quality.

Try this:
--Wake your phone and activate the lock screen. Then press-and-hold in the middle of the screen to bring up the lock screen editing.
--At the bottom tap the plus sign to create a new lock screen.
--Among the options it gives you should be "Suggested Photos". It's clearly looking through your library for photos that meet some AI criteria. Among mine I have some that have the depth effect turned on (that is, the top of the subject overlaps the text of the clock, making it look like the clock is somewhere in between the subject and the background).

You can play around with that just to get a feel for what depth effect does. The depth effect definitely does NOT work if you have any widgets below the time.

 

[Pandyone]

I think it only works if the foreground subject differ from the background enough for the AI to understand it, or if photos have been taken with portrait mode with the camera.

 

[lkalliance]

I think it only works if the foreground subject differ from the background enough for the AI to understand it, or if photos have been taken with portrait mode with the camera.

I can confirm that it works for me on a photo that wasn't taken with my iPhone at all, but with a DSLR. It does have good bokeh, it's just not flagged specifically in Photos as a "portrait". But you may be on to something there...in order for it to be a "depth" effect, the photo must have some depth, lol. So perhaps it is looking for bokeh.

 

[jntdroid]

If you have any widgets enabled besides the default clock and calendar line above it, depth effect disables.

 

[Pandyone]

Apparently it was not as easy as the AI just looking for depth. When pinching and rearranging it applies depth effect but then removes it. Maybe it’s just buggy right now, but it’s picky haha.