Look, I’ll be honest. When Apple first announced the Camera Control button on the iPhone 16 Pro in September 2024, my initial reaction was pretty lukewarm. Another button? Really? It felt like one of those features that was just more about doing something different than doing something important.
The more I thought about it, the more I saw it as an important design inclusion. Much more important than the Dynamic Island that was introduced in the previous generation.
Phone manufacturers need to find new ways to appease content creators because the world is full of them right now. And it’s going to become more pronounced as time rolls on. It’s December 2024 right now; I don’t think we’ll see the end of everyone wanting to be a content creator for a few years.
And so I started to view the inclusion as important for the smartphone market. Maybe even competing brands might start to introduce something similar, because Apple has always been that often-imitated, never-duplicated beast that has stayed at the top since we got rid of our Nokia 5110s.
After a recent trip to New York, I got more accustomed to using the Camera Control button as a natural extension of my content creation. And after spending weeks with the device, I’m still sold on it as being an important design inclusion. Moreso, I think it’s one of the most revolutionary things Apple has done in years.
As quick as a tick in a New York minute…
New York is probably the perfect testing ground for any camera feature. The city throws everything at you: towering skyscrapers that demand creative angles, fast-moving street scenes, and those snapshot moments that disappear if you hesitate for even a second. This is where the Camera Control button proved its worth.
I was filming content for my Instagram, bouncing between video and photo modes constantly. Previously, this meant fumbling with the touchscreen, trying to pinch-to-zoom while keeping the phone steady, or worse, missing the shot entirely while navigating through camera settings. The Camera Control changed that completely.
It takes some getting used to, just because it’s a profound change to how we interact with the Camera app. Once you do, it’d be hard to own a phone without it.
Zooming made simple…
The most immediate benefit is zoom control. Instead of doing that awkward two-finger dance on the screen, you can adjust zoom with a simple slide gesture on the button. This might sound trivial, but when you’re trying to frame the perfect shot of an Art Deco skyscraper when the light hits it at just the right time, that tactile control makes all the difference.
What really impressed me was how natural it felt after just a day or two. The button’s pressure sensitivity means you can half-press to focus (just like a traditional camera) and then press fully to capture. It’s muscle memory that photographers will appreciate, and it works whether you’re shooting stills or video.
The speed advantage became obvious during dense scenes like Times Square. When you spot something worth capturing in Manhattan’s chaos, you don’t have time to open the camera app, wait for it to load, and then compose your shot. The Camera Control button launches straight into camera mode with a single press, even from the lock screen.
This isn’t just convenient; it changes how you approach photography. I found myself taking more spontaneous shots because the barrier to entry was so much lower. Street photography, in particular, benefits enormously from this kind of instant access.
For video, the Camera Control offers something even more valuable: one-handed operation that doesn’t compromise stability. When you’re recording social media content solo, being able to adjust zoom, start recording, and maintain steady framing all with one hand is genuinely liberating.
I spent an afternoon filming establishing shots around Times Square, and the difference was night and day compared to previous iPhone models. No more stopping recording to adjust zoom levels, no more shaky footage from trying to pinch the screen while holding the phone steady.
There’s a learning curve, but it’s so pathetically small that it’s more a mental block than anything else. That said, I do still find myself using the touchscreen at times when I have a bit more patience.
But for anyone who regularly uses their iPhone for serious photo or video work, the Camera Control button represents something Apple doesn’t do often enough. It’s a feature that prioritises function over form. It’s not pretty or elegant in the way we expect from Apple, but it works exceptionally well.
The Camera Control button won’t revolutionise smartphone photography, but it doesn’t need to. What it does is remove friction from the shooting experience in ways that matter to people who actually use their cameras regularly. After weeks of use, going back to purely touchscreen camera controls feels clunky and slow.
Content Creation is all about “capturing the moment” after all. The Camera App’s UX is all the better for the substantial design change. Are Apple still the hardware champs? You bet.
