I had been looking forward to the iPhone 16’s Camera Control button ever since it first popped up in early rumors. After over a month with the iPhone 16 Plus, however, the Camera Control turned out to be a somewhat large disappointment for this longtime iPhone user. The button works as intended. It opens the camera app faster than before. It just doesn’t work well for me. I hold the iPhone in my left hand, so there’s no convenient way to reach the button. My protective case makes it even harder than it should be.
I’d love it if Apple made radical changes to the iPhone’s buttons that would let me swap the location of the Camera Control button with a unified Volume button. That’s not going to happen anytime soon, but Apple is working to make the Camera Control better in the meantime. A new “Require Screen On” option that just appeared in iOS 18.2 beta 3 is one way Apple is improving this feature.
Go to the iPhone 16’s Settings app, tap Display & Brightness, and look for the new Require Screen On toggle at the bottom. That is, after you install iOS 18.2 beta 3, of course.
The new toggle is enabled by default, which matches the current behavior of the Camera Control button. If the iPhone 16 screen is off and you press the button, the display will turn on. A second press will invoke the camera, and a third press will let you take photos.
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If you disable the Require Screen On setting, you can open the camera even when your screen is off. This might be something some content creators want. They’d get even faster access to the camera, which will help them capture photos and videos immediately.
The obvious downside is that you might get accidental Control Center taps after disabling the feature, especially if you’re not using a case.
On the other hand, if you have Raise to Wake enabled from the same Display & Brightness menu, you don’t need to disable the new Require Screen On setting. Simply raising the phone to take a photo or record a video will turn on the screen, so your Camera Control press will bring up the camera on the first press. The next photo or video recording will then be just one tap away.
Separately, Require Screen On should also let you turn on Visual Intelligence faster than before. That’s Apple’s equivalent to Google Lens, which lets Apple Intelligence see what’s around you to provide contextual information.
If you’re not on the iOS 18.2 beta, you’ll have to wait a few weeks to see the Require Screen On appear in the iPhone 16’s Settings app. As for other iPhone versions that can run iOS 18.2, you won’t see the setting because your iPhone lacks a dedicated camera button.
