The Capture button of the iPhone 16 seems to be confirmed with a big change in iOS 18

The iPhone 16 models will look similar to their predecessors. We’re still getting all-screen designs with Dynamic Island on top and minimal bezels, at least for the iPhone 16 Pro models. The quality will be slightly larger than before, a design change that comes from the need to put a tetraprism zoom camera on the smaller Pro.

But the iPhone 16 will get a special update, a new hardware button called the Capture button. It should be on the right side of the phone, under the standby/power button, and perform camera-related functions.

The Capture button is very interesting for this old iPhone user, and together with Apple Intelligence, it is a good reason to buy the iPhone 16 model later this year.

I’m more confident that the Capture button is real now that iOS 18 is official. The iPhone operating system brings features that many of us have been waiting for: the ability to change the Lock Screen software. And that’s a sign that the Capture button is real.

iOS 18 brings a major overhaul to the Control Center, which allows you to increase the number of controls with a finger, all organized by placing more pages. While removing the new Control Center feature in iOS 18, Apple also told us that the Lock Screen apps will be customizable. You may be dying to remove the Flashlight and Camera shortcuts from the Lock Screen.

I have already installed iOS 18 beta 1 on my iPhone 14 Pro, and I can confirm that it is possible. Not only that, but you have a lot of apps and shortcuts available on two levels on your Lock Screen. You can put different apps/shortcuts on Lock Screens and remove them completely if you want.

Apple’s willingness to offer this change is a sign to me that the Capture button is happening. If all four iPhone 16 models allow users to launch the camera app with the press of a button, there is no need to have a shortcut on the Lock Screen. Not when the Capture button will have anything to do with the camera.

It makes sense to remove the Camera shortcut and let users customize it with other features. Otherwise, the iPhone 16 would have five ways to start the camera from the Lock Screen. That’s the new Capture button, the Lock Screen shortcut, the swipe to the left, the Control Center (if you put camera controls in there), and the Action button (if you change it that way).

The solution is to allow iPhone 16 owners to remove the Lock Screen Camera shortcut. But this may not be the only feature of the iPhone 16. It’s the kind of iOS 18 functionality that most iPhone users would love to have.

iPhone users who haven’t upgraded their devices this year can still remove the Lock Screen Camera app without worrying about accessing the camera quickly. You can switch the Lock Screen to the left to access the camera, and you can add camera shortcuts in the Control Center. If you have an iPhone 15 Pro, the Action button gives you a way to activate the camera, too.

I also remind you that Apple introduced new button animations in iOS 18 that may indicate hardware changes coming to iPhones, possibly this year. When you press the hardware button, the bezel of the iPhone moves. This could indicate future capabilities in the iPhone 16’s buttons, the Capture button included.

Yes, this is all fiction. We’ll have to wait until September to see the iPhone 16’s Capture button confirmed. Until then, you can always try iOS 18 while it’s in beta and test the Lock Screen apps.