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How to get the camera HDR setting back in iPhone 8, 8 Plus, iPhone X

by Preslav Kateliev / Oct 12, 2017, 9:02 AM

How to get the camera HDR setting back in iPhone 8, 8 Plus, iPhone X

When Apple announced the iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus, and iPhone X last month, the company was very proud of its new Bionic chip and the image signal processor that comes with it. It allows the camera to do its magic, like add the special Portrait Lighting effects and intelligently decide when to boost exposure and when to apply HDR. Yes, we've had auto HDR before, but now, Apple is so convinced that it's nailed the exact moments that the feature can kick in that it removed the HDR toggle from the camera app.

For anyone that likes to have some control over what they are doing when shooting with the camera, this sounds mildly concerning. What if we want to force HDR? What if we want to shoot with it off, but the phone stubbornly decides otherwise? To top it off, the HDR prompt that used to go off when the auto HDR is about to kick in is gone in the iPhone 8's camera app. Thankfully, at least the already taken picture will have the HDR label to let you know that the mode was used.

So... can we get the old style HDR toggle back? Well, yes we can. It's buried in the phone's Settings and is turned off by default, but you can easily fix that with the following steps:

How to get the HDR setting back in iOS 11

Go to Settings

Be greeted by an old friend

How to get the HDR setting back in iOS 11

Here's our camera app, as it is set by default on the iPhone 8. The obvious lack of an HDR control is depressing as we are forced to let the phone decide for us whether it should be on or off.

Options

7 Comments

1. Nopers unregistered

But why would you want it back?

posted on Oct 12, 2017, 11:06 AM 0

3. uncle_gadget

Posts: 1050; Member since: Sep 20, 2017

Choice? Because Apple shouldn't be deciding how I want to use the phone I own and paid for?! Is that good enough reason? What Apple is doing is like what many businesses do, like install lights that go on and off automatically, either on a timer or using a proximity sensor. Its good for them to save money, but it doesn't work when I need light and its off. Like for example on a cloudy day when having lights off would make for a darker work area. So having the switch always available to turn it on when you want is. Again , Apple dumbing down its products, assuming people are to stupid to make simple decisions. Makes me wonder why educated people buy such?!

posted on Oct 12, 2017, 2:11 PM 1

2. gynorm

Posts: 37; Member since: Jul 31, 2013

because going into the settings menu to get to camera settings makes sense... circa 2007

posted on Oct 12, 2017, 2:10 PM 5

4. worldpeace

Posts: 3092; Member since: Apr 15, 2016

That's because the technology isn't mature enough /s Wait till iOS 15, and they'll finally move camera setting to camera app

posted on Oct 12, 2017, 7:07 PM 3

5. darkkjedii

Posts: 30783; Member since: Feb 05, 2011

These little things, make me appreciate what Samsung is do ing even more.

posted on Oct 12, 2017, 8:24 PM 1

6. Mr.mobile

Posts: 130; Member since: Mar 09, 2017

Where is battery life apple Please apple give us bigger battery and battery life Wifi upto 20Hours LTE upto 18Hours Videoplay back 18Hours

posted on Oct 13, 2017, 2:02 AM 0

7. hassanhalik

Posts: 5; Member since: Oct 22, 2017

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