Apple’s new iOS developer beta has been released, and it’s not one of those boring updates that just brings bug fixes.
Instead, iOS 18.1 beta 4 brings some new user-oriented features, including support for Space Photos on iPhone 15 Pro devices.
It looks like an ordinary photo on the iPhone, but becomes lifelike on Vision Pro.
Photo credit: Stan Schroeder/Mashable
The iPhone 15 Pro has been able to shoot space videos for a while, but the ability to take space photos is new. This feature is available in the camera app in the bottom menu of your phone. Turn it on and the app will warn you to turn your phone into landscape mode and notify you when there’s not enough light to take photos of the space. If all the conditions are met, you can start taking photos of the space just like you would a standard photo.
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Also new is a small switch on the right that allows you to switch between Space Photo and Space Movie modes.
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This is great news for Vision Pro owners or potential buyers. Space photos can be viewed in 3D on Vision Pro, with a depth effect that turns ordinary photos into tiny 3D experiences. For everyone else… well, it might still be worth bringing them along for some special occasions when you might get a Vision Pro or similar device in the future.
Note that you can also convert regular photos taken with the iPhone 15 Pro into space photos, but at slightly lower quality (check out 9to5Mac’s great overview of how they’ll look).
All these features will also be available on iPhone 16 Pro models, but they are not yet widely available (the official release date is September 20).
Space Photos aren’t the only new feature in iOS 18.1 beta 4, though some of the new features aren’t available in every market. These include suggestions in the Type to Siri interface, the ability to wirelessly restore a bricked iPhone using a nearby iPhone 16, and a slightly reorganized connection page layout in the phone’s Control Center.
iOS 18.1 beta 4 is free to download, but you must register as a developer to download it. As always, it’s unwise to run an iOS beta on your phone without backing it up first.
