Many people have a great passion for photography and Apple made it easier to capture DSLR-like photos with their iPhones. You can click great photos using Portrait mode, Selfie, etc. on an iPhone.
Recently, we have been getting reports from various iPhone users who say they are not able to capture photos using portrait mode on their iPhones. They aren’t sure why portrait mode is not working on their iPhones.
After researching a bit on this matter, we got to know a few reasons that may be responsible for causing this problem. This could be due to portrait zoom settings enabled under Camera settings on the iPhone, iPhone being not updated, a technical bug within iPhone, etc.
In this post, you may find different great solutions explained that will help in resolving this issue easily.
Fix 1 – Enable Portrait Zoom Preserve Settings on your iPhone
Step 1: To do so, you have to launch the Settings page on your iPhone.
Step 2: Then scroll down and search for the Camera option on the list of the settings menu and tap on it as shown below.
Step 3: Now click on the Preserve Settings option on the Camera page as shown in the below screenshot.
NOTE – Disable the Grid option by clicking on its toggle switch.
Step 4: Here please click Portrait Zoom‘s toggle button to enable it.
Fix 2 – Set Appropriate Aperture Value
The ideal aperture value that needs to be set on any iPhone camera app is between 1.6 to 2.8. If it is out of this range, it will not work as expected. Therefore, we recommend our users try setting the correct range value for Aperture on their iPhones by following the steps given below.
Step 1: First of all, you have to launch the Camera app on your iPhone.
Step 2: After the camera app is open, change it to portrait mode as shown in the below screenshot.
Step 3: Once the camera is in portrait mode, at the top you will find an upward arrow-like icon in the center as shown below.
Step 4: You have to tap on it to view the camera settings option at the bottom.
Step 5: Once the options are available at the bottom right side, click the f symbol from the options as shown.
Step 6: Now move the aperture slider to make sure it is in between 1.6 to 2.8.
Step 7: After it has been set properly, you will notice that you can capture images in portrait mode.
Fix 3 – Force Restart your iPhone
When there are any technical faults within the iPhone, they may cause such issues as discussed above in this article. Many users have easily fixed this problem by force restarting their iPhones. We are going to show you how to force restart your iPhone using the below steps.
Step 1: To force restart your iPhone, you have to press the volume up button once and release it.
Step 2: Now you have to press the volume down button and release it.
Step 3: Once done, press the power button of your iPhone until you see the Apple logo sign on the screen.
Step 4: After the iPhone starts, try and check if the problem is resolved.
Fix 4 – Reset All Settings on your iPhone
If none of the things are working for you, you can try resetting all the settings on the iPhone by following the steps explained below.
NOTE – Don’t worry! Reset All Settings will never delete any of your data from the iPhone.
Step 1: Launch the Settings app by tapping on the settings icon from the home screen.
Step 2: After that, choose the General option by tapping on general as shown in the below screenshot.
Step 3: Now scroll down the General page to the bottom and select the Transfer or Reset iPhone option.
Step 4: Once it opens, click on the Reset option at the bottom of the page as shown.
Step 5: There comes a small pop-up menu on the iPhone screen as shown below.
Step 6: You need to tap on the Reset All Settings option.
Step 7: To proceed further, it might ask you to enter your passcode.
Step 8: After verifying your passcode successfully, tap on the Reset All Settings option once again for confirming.
Step 9: It will start resetting all settings on your iPhone.
Additional Fixes
Capture the photo from a certain distance
Any user who wishes to capture a photo in portrait mode has to maintain some amount of distance from the object in order to get it captured properly. Otherwise, the portrait mode will not get enabled on the camera app on your iPhone no matter how long you wait for it to get enabled.
On the other hand, you must have noticed the alert message on the camera app in portrait mode that instructs the user to move near or farther from the object. Please follow the instruction displayed and you may notice that the portrait mode will be enabled and able to capture beautiful images.
Check your iPhone model
There are certain iPhone models such as iPhone SE, iPhone XR, iPhone 8, etc. which have a single camera lens in the rear that only captures humans in portrait mode. If any user tries to capture an object, animal, etc. that is not a human in portrait mode, it will not work at all.
Make sure to capture a human on your iPhone to ensure it is working properly.
NOTE – It has been observed that when there are many people in the frame at different places, the camera app in portrait mode finds it difficult to concentrate on capturing the images. So try capturing an image in portrait mode having a maximum of two persons in the frame.
Try using Portrait Mode in Bright Light
We have noticed that many iPhone users try capturing the object in portrait mode when it is placed in a dim/low light. It may work in the latest models like iPhone 13, iPhone 14, etc. but it may not work as expected in the older models.
So try moving the object to a bright light area and then capture it in portrait mode.
Clean the Camera Lens
If the camera lens has a layer of dirt, oil, or fingerprint patches, it will be tough to capture good photos be it portrait mode or regular photo. This could be another reason why the portrait mode is not working on your iPhone camera app.
So we suggest our users wipe the camera lens in the rear of their iPhones with a clean cloth to ensure there is no dirt, etc to block the lens.
Even after trying these solutions above if the issue still persists, try the following fixes given below in the article.