After years of waiting, the iPhone finally has a manual camera mode. The only downside: it’s a standalone app

Apple is beginning to embrace changes that could never have been imagined in its ecosystem. The arrival of iOS 18 came hand in hand with complete and absolute freedom to customize the home screen, from the colors of the icons to being able to place them wherever the user wants.

On the other hand, after years and years of waiting for the iPhone to have a manual camera mode natively, Apple has just launched Final Cut Camera. With this app, we are facing the first app developed by Apple that allows us to shoot however we want.

Final Cut Camera was born with a double purpose: to be a support so that an iPad with Final Cut can be used as a multicam (recording with up to four Apple devices at the same time) and to finally bring the manual modes to iPhone.

Final Cut Camera’s interface is quite simple. When we open it, only the iPhone lenses appear, the hours of recording that we have available according to the free memory, as well as access to the magnifying glass. The magic comes when you click on the arrow located in the lower right corner: it hides the manual modes.

• White balance.
• Exposure control.
• Focus control.

Yes, beyond these three controls, Final Cut Camera (at least in its first version) doesn’t let you do much else. The options are far away Focus Peakingexact ISO control and other elements of other apps that have been on the market for some time.

This inevitably forces me to ask myself a question: why is it an independent app and it is not integrated into the camera app itself. There are only some callable manual controls, something that could perfectly be adapted within the Camera app. The same happens with multicam mode: it is invoked from a small button located in the upper left corner.

Beyond this, the arrival of Final Cut Camera is good news: Apple finally gives users the ability to use manual controls when recording video. The next step is to wait for the same thing to happen with the photographic section.

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