In the fourth beta of iOS 15, the camera app is able to partially remove unwanted lens flare in photos.
Lens flare has always been a problem in smartphone photography. But Apple has reportedly fixed this problem – or at least reduced it. Photos taken in the Camera app of the latest iOS 15 Beta 4 version show that a certain amount of lens flare is now automatically removed. explained Reddit user Doubleluckstur:
So I noticed something I haven't seen reported anywhere else. While I was out and about, I took this photo and thought it was ruined due to the lens flare and would need to be edited later (as I've done multiple times with previous photos with the iPhone 12 Pro as it is so prone to lens flares). However, when I got home, I noticed that the lens flare in the original photo had automatically disappeared, although it was obviously still there in the Live Photo, meaning the automatic post-processing has gotten smart enough to remove lens flares!
iOS 15 Beta 4: Feature takes multiple iPhone generations into account
According to the report, the lens flare remains present in the original Live Photo image. But if you export it to a different single-image format, the flare is removed. There are other changes to the image, such as increased magnification, that are consistent with the way iOS exports Live Photos. Further discussion in the Reddit thread shows that the results are variable. It is reported that where the lens flare is particularly noticeable - and perhaps intentionally - iOS 15 does not try to reduce it. Users have found that the new flare removal or reduction works on all devices, from the iPhone 12 Pro to the iPhone XR. (Photo by Unsplash / TheRegisti)