Unlocking Creativity: How iOS 18 Revolutionizes Photography with a Click on Your Lock Screen

A digital picture, especially one that captures the ‘decisive moment’, will often be on the scene for all of a second, or a fraction of one, and a photographer needs not only the goods but the fast fingerwork to make the shot happen. And that’s where APPLE’s latest operating-system revision comes in, with version 18 of its iOS control software offering, not just another point-and-click upgrade, but a whole new way for iPhone photographers, professional and amateur alike, to make their digital pictures work for them: a whole new, customisable lock screen trick.

The Dawn of a New Photographic Era: iOS 18’s Customizable Lock Screen

In iOS 18, APPLE introduced the new ability to change out the simple Camera app icon on the lock screen with more advanced photography tools, like Halide Mk II and Moment’s Pro Camera – a shift so monumental that it means photographers can jump the stock Camera app for the first time ever.

Step-by-Step Guide to Elevating Your Photography Game

You’ll need to be running iOS 18 on your device, which is available from Settings > General > Software Update. Then you need to have the latest versions of Halide Mk II (2.16) or Pro Camera (5.5).

1. Start by long-pressing the lock screen and then tap 'Customize' at the bottom.
2. Tap the lock screen preview on the left to access the shortcut options.
3. Click the camera icon to the bottom right and remove it by again pressing the '+' icon.
4. Now, you will see the Halide and Moment apps under the 'Capture' section.

Then, add the camera app of your choice, and you’re done, you can open it directly from the Slide to Unlock screen, saving you precious mere seconds from entering your phone.

Subscription and Pricing: A Small Price for a Giant Leap

Of course, there’s a cost to going with this kind of evolution: while Halide II remains advertising-free, users have to pay a subscription (with flexible costs every one, three, six or 12 months, or a one-time purchase price for sticklers). Moment’s app is similarly priced, albeit cheaper, with optional in-app purchases to expand its capabilities.

APPLE’s Strategy: Simplifying for the Many, Enhancing for the Few

APPLE’s announcement of the Final Cut Camera app earlier this year foreshadowed a Pro version of its stock Camera app – but so far APPLE appears to be doubling down on keeping its stock app simple for casual users and letting power users with hobbyist aspirations be led towards third-party apps that are able to shine in the limelight. The new lock screen feature is the first major one in iOS 18 to exemplify this.

Beyond Halide and Moment: A World of Photographic Possibilities

Important as Halide and Moment are to the new feature, they are not the only third-party camera apps that APPLE users rave about. There’s Obscura, Lightroom, ProCam, and any others whose makers are skilled enough at timing their own app updates to take advantage of the new lock screen customisation on iOS 18. That last detail, of being able to capitalise on the immediacy of the iPhone’s photo capabilities, is one way third-party camera apps gain an upper hand over the one that comes as software.

Final Thoughts: The Bigger Picture

For the entire history of mobile photography, carbon-based life forms on Earth have had only two camera apps installed on their phones – the one from APPLE and the one from Google. A new feature of APPLE’s next operating system, iOS 18, promises to change that forever. It will allow users to set up a custom lock screen shortcut for a third-party camera app. This relatively minor change in design can point us in the direction of APPLE’s broader vision for the years ahead. APPLE wants its users to experience greater degrees of personalisation in most aspects of how they use their devices, and photography is no exception. From casual lenses such as VSCO to coveted metaverses like Light’s Lensa, the floodgates are about to be opened.

Exploring APPLE’s Core

Every APPLE product and software update is underpinned by its ode to innovation, user experience and human ingenuity. Every time you turned on your first iPhone, the start of a new iOS version, you were told that ‘With every tap, swipe, and click, we’re bringing the extraordinary within reach.’

Of course, as more users update to iOS 18 and experiment with these new photographic boundaries, we are sure to see further shifts in how moments are captured and archived. APPLE’s influence – with the unceremonious yet powerful edict of innovation and refinement – continues to push us into new creative worlds, one update at a time.