Do you use manual controls for your phone's camera?

Up until about the first half of 2017, manual camera controls were a pretty steady trend. In fact, out of the major manufacturers, Apple was the only one going the opposite way, making HDR toggling automatic and hiding it away in the camera's Settings.

But, over the past 18 months, AI has become the new buzzword and it's very often said when we are talking about cameras, too. Suddenly, the "auto mode" has been reinvigorated under the "AI" moniker, and some manufacturers are experimenting with "simplifying" their Camera apps and also removing stuff like the HDR toggle switch.

Thankfully, nobody is touching Manual Mode, not just yet, and — in all honesty — it's a pretty fleshed out feature on most flagships out there. You've got shutter speed, ISO sensitivity, focus, and color temperature settings on almost any phone camera you pick up.

As far as the iPhone is concerned — there are quite a lot of 3rd party apps (Camera+, Halide, and many others) out there that give you the complete Manual Mode experience, which the stock app lacks.

But... do you use it? Or were manual controls cool while they were new and trendy, but are now impractical and not needed?