You can now shoot spatial photos with your iPhone, but there’s a catch

Ryan Haines / Android Authority

Last year, Apple introduced spatial video recording on the iPhone 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max, allowing users to shoot immersive clips they can watch on their Vision Pro headsets. With iOS 18.1 beta 4, the company is now expanding spatial capture support to include images, too. While the Vision Pro can already display regular shots in 3D, using the dedicated spatial photo mode should output better results.

iOS 18.1 beta 4 includes a new Spatial Mode tab in the built-in Camera app. Visiting it reveals a toggle that allows users to switch between spatial photo and spatial video capture. It’s worth noting that to use Spatial Mode, you have to hold your compatible iPhone in landscape orientation. This enables the rear lenses to capture the necessary depth data to produce spatial media.

Since the latest non-Pro iPhone models have switched from diagonal to vertically aligned rear lenses, the iPhone 16 and 16 Plus will also be able to shoot spatial photos and videos. This should further popularize the feature among the few Apple Vision Pro users.

Beyond support for spatial photo shooting, iOS 18.1 beta 4 includes the changes Apple first offered through the iOS 18 Release Candidate. These include support for pausing video recording and the new watchOS 11 faces revealed during the iPhone 16 event.

iOS 18.1 will become available to all users next month. Some of its notable changes include phone call recording and transcribing, along with the first batch of Apple Intelligence features.

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