The main camera on iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max doesn’t work with other capture apps

At least for now, new iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max users can only use the phone’s capture app for photo/video capture, switching to the main camera from any other app (e.g. Snapchat, Instagram or TikTok) will leave the image out of focus. Bonus, weird sounds are heard from the phone’s case.

Apparently the optical image stabilization system implemented for the main camera of the newest iPhone 14 Pro models doesn’t mesh well with any other app that comes with an image capture function, and is essentially unusable for any purpose other than taking photos and videos using the dedicated app pre-installed on the phone. As if that weren’t enough, Apple fans who just bought the most expensive iPhone of the moment are alarmed by the strange sounds coming from the phone’s case.

Without much room for interpretation, the problem is located at the level of the optical stabilization system, messing with apps (or iOS drivers) that don’t quite “know” how to handle the new camera.

So uh, we’re having some issues with the 14 Pro Max camera pic.twitter.com/7HH1wLFjdF

– Luke Miani (@LukeMiani) September 16, 2022

Optimized to maximize image quality, with or without ideal lighting conditions, the new 48MP camera included on the top versions of the iPhone 14 series is already being praised as better than that offered by the rival Galaxy S22 Ultra, at least as long as the zoom level used doesn’t exceed the technical limitations imposed by the not-so-high native resolution. Specifically, Apple has coupled a 48MP sensor with a slightly larger physical area than the 108MP found in Samsung’s model, banking on superior light sensitivity and an advanced optical stabilisation system to achieve the best possible results. Of course, part of the equation is also the highly advanced image processing algorithms, tuned to deliver the best exposed and detailed images possible. However, it seems that Apple’s engineers have missed a key point, focusing only on optimizing the best possible capture app pre-installed with the iOS system, completely neglecting compatibility with other apps that only access capture functions using the API interface also provided by Apple.

In the end, the result is a total fiasco, with the main camera on the iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max unusable from the capture interface of other apps. The good news is that the problem is purely software, with the fix coming via firmware updates.