I absolutely love the Camera Control on my iPhone — just not in its default state. With the final version of iOS 26, Apple is taking the first step toward pulling back the overly complex Camera Control with one simple change.
Camera Control is a highly requested feature
iPhone users have wanted physical camera buttons since at least the iPhone 4 in 2010. That’s why Apple added the ability to use the volume buttons to snap photos in the Camera app way back then.
More recently, Apple brought the Action button from Apple Watch Ultra to the iPhone, replacing the mute switch with a customizable launcher button. It made for a great camera launcher and shutter button, but its location was as awkward as the volume buttons when holding the iPhone in landscape orientation.
That’s what makes Camera Control so great. It’s placed exactly where you expect a shutter button to be on a camera, and it’s easy to squeeze with one hand for quickly launching your camera app of choice.
It just needs to be a little less out of control
But in its default state, Camera Control can actually make taking photos much harder. Swipe gestures and a pressure-sensitive menus make it too easy to accidentally mess up your shot.
That’s why I run my Camera Control in a much simpler and more reliable configuration. It launches the Camera app with a click, even if the display is off, and it simply captures photos (or video when held down).
While there’s no change to Camera Control on iPhone 17, there are already rumors of Apple scaling back the problematic advanced input methods with a future version of the button.
iOS 26 includes a Camera Control change
In the meantime, Apple is clearly acknowledging Camera Control user feedback with a change in iOS 26 onboarding.
When setting up a new iPhone with iOS 26, Apple includes a simple toggle for turning off the advanced Camera Control features without digging through the Settings app. The complex stuff is still on by default, but the addition of the toggle is a clear acknowledgment that user feedback isn’t quite what Apple expected.
For me, this toggle puts the Camera Control in a much better state. I still need to enable the ability to launch the Camera app with a click if the display is off, but I avoid accidentally messing up shots and having to navigate through different toggles in the Settings app.
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