iPhone flashlight gets secret superpowers photographers will love – with iOS 18 update

The iOS 18 Public Beta reveals a feature which gives control over the focus, as well as the brightness, of the flash in existing iPhone models.

Previous versions of iOS have allowed a few different brightness settings, but now the full feature set of the Adaptive True Town Flash is placed under the control of a new interface, which effectively means you can control the width of the beam.

You, too, can be a brave early adopter of the new iOS by downloading the public beta (yes, it's no longer just a developer beta since July 14), but YouTuber TechDroider has posted a video (above) which clarifies the operation of the torch and the animations in the latest beta.

The animation stems from the dynamic island, so we can assume that the iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro, which both boast the Adaptive Truetone Flash and Dynamic Island, at least, will definitely support this feature.

Dragging your finger Left and right adjusts focus/angle, while up and down is brightness. A long-press brings up a full control.

The truetone flash is made up of 9 LEDs and multiple lenses, hence its ability to direct light as well as tweak the tone. Previously these abilities have been available only to developers and the Camera app.

The uses for people lighting subjects with their phone should be obvious, and if nothing else it is fun to play with.

The feature has been tweaked a little over the developer versions, and is now larger than the original.

Even if you don't download iOS18 now, it'll be a cool feature to have in the post for your new iPhone 15 Pro.

Check our guide to the best iPhone for photography .