How to use the new iPhone Camera app in iOS 26

When you first download Apple’s iOS 26 (currently available as a public beta), you’ll see quite a few changes, and that includes the Camera app. Not only has the icon received a makeover, but the app itself is so much better. A new layout helps keep you focused on the moment without all the distracting buttons. Everything is tucked away nicely into uncomplicated pop-up menus that you can access with just a tap.

My personal favorite camera change is not having to swipe to find the Video option when you’re trying to film a memorable moment — at the time of writing this, I have 950 videos on my phone (don’t judge me, I have a funny toddler). I often accidentally swipe too many times and end up on Slo-Mo or Time-Lapse but that’s no longer an issue with iOS 26. (Don’t worry — those lesser-used modes didn’t disappear, they’re just a couple of taps away.) Oh, and if your lens becomes dirty, the camera can detect it and offer Lens Cleaning Hints so your shots stay crisp and clean.

Let’s dive into all the new Camera app features in iOS 26 and how to use them.

Accessing Photo, Video and more

The days of the boring flat camera app icon are gone. Instead, the iOS 26 home screen greets you with a more realistic depiction of the lenses on the iPhone’s backside. Once you enter the app, it has a much cleaner look and feel than what you’re used to seeing with previous operating systems. The white shutter button now features a translucent ring — in iOS 18, the surrounding ring is also white.

Below the shutter button, you’ll notice two prominently highlighted modes (and probably the ones you mostly use): Video and Photo. But where did the other modes go? They’re actually in the same spot; you just have to press and drag your finger across the screen. You can also just keep tapping the options (left or right) until you get the one you want.

To the right of Photo, you’ll find Portrait, Spatial and Pano; to the left of Video, you’ll find Cinematic, Slo-Mo and Time-Lapse. Again, I like that they’re conveniently hidden away so you don’t accidentally tap the wrong one while trying to capture a fleeting moment with a photo or video.

Finding the pop-up menu

At the top right of your screen, you’ll notice the Night Mode (if it’s dark enough) and the Flash buttons, alongside a six-dot icon. If you tap that icon, a pop-up menu will appear with additional options. You can also access the menu by tapping once on Photo or Video. (Depending on which mode you’re in, you’ll get different options on the pop-up menu.)

The Photo menu has setting options for Flash, Live, Timer, Exposure, Styles, Aspect and Night Mode. Unlike iOS 28, the icons are labeled so you actually know what you’re selecting.

If you’re in any of the Video modes, the options are Flash, Exposure and Action. You’ll see another pop-up menu on the upper left side where you can adjust your resolution and frame rate.

Editing a photo

When you capture a photo, the image will now be displayed in a small circle on the lower left side of the screen — in iOS 18, it’s in a square. You can tap the circle to make any editing changes to the photo you’d like.

When you click the editing button at the bottom of the screen, the newly designed menu shows Styles (new), Adjust, Crop and Clean Up (new) buttons. The Styles button lets you change the image color, but the Clean Up button is where the magic happens. With this, you can tap, brush or circle anything in the picture you want to remove.

It’s really a cool feature if there’s someone or something in the photo that you don’t want there. For instance, I took a picture of a shelf with a cup sitting on it and was able to quickly remove the cup. It can be a little finicky if you try to remove a large group of things at once — it’ll often leave a sloppy mess.

The Cleanup tool will only be available on the iPhone 15 Pro and later models because it’s powered by Apple Intelligence.

Never take a photo with a dirty camera lens again

It happens: slippery hands when it’s raining can cause you to lose grip of your phone, potentially dropping it in mud. Or maybe you accidentally touched your phone with greasy fingers. However your camera lens became dirty is none of my business, but your iPhone won’t be shy about telling you. The setting is called Lens Cleaning Hints (it should automatically be turned on) and it’ll let you know when your camera lens needs to be cleaned.

While I’d love to show you what this setting looks like, I keep my camera pretty clean and I’m not mucking it up any time soon.

This new feature will be available on iPhone 15 and later.

Read more: Here’s how to customize your iPhone’s lock screen in iOS 26.

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