Ten camera settings worth changing on your phone today

Phone cameras are brilliant on autopilot, but a few settings can make your photos noticeably better. Most take seconds to change.

1. Turn on the grid. It helps you keep horizons straight and use the rule of thirds.
2. Clean the lens. Not a setting, but the single biggest fix for hazy photos.
3. Tap to focus, then adjust exposure. Drag the brightness slider down for skies and sunsets.
4. Lock focus and exposure with a long press when shooting a moving scene from the same spot.
5. Try the aperture control if you have one. The iPhone 18 Pro’s main camera can switch between f/1.48 and f/4: open wide for blurred backgrounds and low light, close down for group photos and landscapes where everything should be sharp.
6. Choose your video resolution. 4K at 30 fps is a great default; use 60 fps for action.
7. Use the high-resolution mode in good light for landscapes you want to crop or print — 48MP and 200MP sensors shine here.
8. Use RAW for serious editing — files are larger, but highlights and shadows are easier to recover.
9. Review location tags. Photos can record where they were taken. Remove location before sharing publicly if privacy matters.
10. Learn your zoom buttons. The preset 2×, 3× or 5× shortcuts use the best lens for that framing; pinching to in-between values can reduce quality on some phones.

One habit beats every setting

Take more than one shot. Capture a few frames of people, then keep the best — storage is cheaper than the moment.

Cover photo (cropped): Kyu3a, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons