Use iPhone 16’s Camera Control Button as a Simple Shutter

The new Camera Control button on iPhone 16 is a really interesting way to control different camera settings and fine-tune the images you take with the camera. And while it works really well as a shutter button by pressing it firmly, I’ve found that there are already times when I accidentally zoom in or change the style, rather than taking the photo I intended.

I’ve also just realised that, looking at this, I need a haircut!

A lot of this will come down to practice and getting used to the new Camera Control, but there will undoubtedly be times when you just want a simple, basic shutter button and the ability to temporarily disable the more advanced features of Camera Control. Well, fear not—it’s very easy to do just that.

I’m going to jump out of the Camera app for a moment and instead open Settings. From here, I’m looking for Accessibility, and if I scroll down a little bit, I’ll find a page for Camera Control. On this screen, we have the option to turn off the toggle where it says Show Adjustments, which will disable the menu system built into Camera Control.

Okay, let’s go back into the Camera by pressing the Camera Control button, and we’ll see if this new feature works. Now, the fun thing about this screen recording is that you can’t see that I’m pressing and double-tapping that Camera Control button to test it—because nothing’s happening on-screen—but I can promise you I am pressing it!

Now it does exactly what I wanted it to—it just acts like a shutter button and nothing else. If only it was that quick to fix my hair!

We probably won’t use this ability very often because I really like the more advanced menu and controls available here. But I can definitely think of plenty of times when having this Camera Control button act as a regular, simple shutter could be very, very useful.

Little tips like this—customising your phone and making it work for you—are exactly why I started my YouTube channel four years ago. If you check it out down below, and maybe subscribe while you’re there, you’ll find hundreds of QuickTip videos just like this one to help you customise, personalise, and get the most from the iPhone you already own.

There are so many useful features hidden in iOS, and when you learn how to use them, your device will be better than ever before. So, please do check those out, and if you want to see what’s new in iOS 18 this year (spoiler alert: there’s a lot!), please do check out my eBook at the link below. I’ll see you all next time!