PSA: You can still open Camera from the Lock Screen after removing the button in iOS 18

iOS 18 provides far more customization tools than ever before. Among them, you can swap out the Lock Screen’s flashlight and camera buttons for any other controls of your choice.

But as nice as this new Lock Screen freedom may be, lots of users may face a dilemma: they want custom controls, but don’t want to sacrifice quick access to the Camera app.

Good news: you can still quickly open Camera, even after removing the Lock Screen button. Here’s how.

Swiping is the new-old solution

Even before Apple added a dedicated camera button to the Lock Screen, you could quickly access the Camera app with a left swipe from the right edge of the screen.

That option never went away, and it’s still available in iOS 18.

If you’ve formed the habit of accessing Camera from the Lock Screen button, you may have forgotten that this swipe gesture exists. But it works just as well in iOS 18 as it ever has.

Thanks to the swipe gesture, you can safely replace the camera button with any other control you’d like—and still capture a quick shot whenever needed by swiping in from the iPhone’s right edge.

Or, for a much more expensive option, you can buy the upcoming iPhone 16 for its physical Capture button.

Just don’t say I didn’t try to save you money.

Do you plan to replace the camera button in iOS 18? What will you put there instead? Let us know in the comments.