Everything new with the Photos & Camera in iOS 14

We have been testing the developer beta on various devices for a few weeks and, after taking countless photos, have come to appreciate the changes iOS 14 will bring.

Apple has focused on making the Photos app easier to navigate while at the same time offering quick and easy access to your library. There is also a clear priority on making the Camera app more powerful, with many more user-accessible settings options and new ways to take photos.

Of course, both apps also have various quality of life improvements, icon changes, and performance optimizations iOS users have come to expect with a new operating system release.

See the changes in our hands-on video and follow along in our annotated lists.

Camera app

All the new changes in the iOS 14 Camera app

• The quick action menu on the Home screen has new glyphs for most actions
• New toggle for Exposure Compensation in Camera settings
• In the Settings app, Grid has moved to "composition" and capturing outside the frame has been simplified
• New toggle in Settings to mirror photos taken with front-facing camera
• New toggle in Settings to capture burst shots with up-facing volume rocker
• New toggle in Settings to prioritize faster shooting
• Camera app is up to 90% faster and can capture up to four shots a second. Time to first shot is 25% faster and Portrait shot-to-shot is 15% faster.
• New chevron for accessing settings from within Camera app
• In those settings is a new exposure compensation control
Exposure Compensation meter
• New exposure compensation meter in the top left corner when active
• New guide sign when capturing night mode shot to help stabilize
Capture burst shots with volume up button
• Volume up can now capture burst photos by holding it down
• Volume down can start a QuickTake video or just snap a photo
• QuickTake comes to iPhone XR and iPhone Xs
• Toggle video modes on all iOS 14 devices
• Camera app is now better at scanning QR codes

Photos app

All the new changes in the iOS 14 Camera app

New Photos widget in iOS 14
• Photos has a new widget for the revamped Home screen
• In Settings, "Reset Blocked Memories" becomes "Reset Suggested Memories"
• Easier to navigate by pinching and zooming throughout the app
New actions available
• Ellipsis on the top right adds new actions for zooming in and out, adjusting the aspect ratio grid, and filtering
• Albums can be sorted oldest or newest first
• Photos can be filtered by favorites, edited, photos, and videos. Combinations are allowed
• When viewing a photo, it can now be zoomed in on much further
• Can add captions to shots
• Captions sync across devices and are searchable
• When applying a filter to the video, the progress image is updated and less obtrusive, now only in the lower-left corner
• Memories now show more relevant videos and photos. They've been enhanced with additional music tracks, have better stabilization, and improved framing when alternating between portrait and landscape orientations.
• Live Photos taken on iOS 14 are more stable when viewed in Years, Months, and Days view
• Recently deleted shots are now sorted in reverse with the newest at the bottom
Updated image picker
• New image picker throughout iOS which is easier to use, faster, and is searchable
• Can limit what third-party apps have access to

Existing features

• Everything to know about Picture in Picture in iOS 14
• Everything Apple tried to kill at WWDC 2020
• Testing Scribble on iPad with Apple Pencil
• Every HomeKit feature coming to iOS 14, iPadOS, macOS Big Sur, and tvOS 14
• Everything new with Messages in iOS 14
• Testing sleep tracking with Apple Watch on watchOS 7
• How AirPods and AirPods Pro get better with iOS 14
• Everything new with CarPlay in iOS 14
• All the new watch faces coming in watchOS 7
• In-depth look at widgets, App Library, and the new home screens of iOS 14 and iPadOS 14
• Everything new in macOS Big Sur