Turn off Auto-Enhance / edit on iPhone

Whenever I take a photo on my Iphone 13 Pro, a few seconds after the photo auto enhance, making it look terrible. I notice a change of color, increase of sharpness and crazy shadow lifting.


I've researched and looks like a lot of people have the same issue and no solution.


Any updates, any success stories on solving this?


[Re-Titled by Moderator]

iPhone 13 Pro, iOS 15

Posted on Dec 29, 2021 12:50 AM

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Question marked as Best reply

Posted on Apr 2, 2022 11:56 AM

This article doesn’t tell you how to turn off the auto enhancement. I want my photos natural, I want to turn off the dang auto enhancement! Im mad that the iphone 13 takes the best photos but turns them into the worst of all the iphone pictures due to the horrible auto editing.

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161 replies

Jul 21, 2022 11:01 AM in response to L_214

They are absolutely 101% aware of this happening. I used to work as a teir 2 tech and trainer for Apple. The second a tech hears “Deep Fusion” they should know exactly what that means. Also, “mosaic photo issue”. I have spoken with multiple techs and what comes out of some of their mouths is unbelievable.

I’m not sure actually where Apple gets off “automatically” blanket applying “enhancement” filters to every single photo, including RAW format but the goal is very simple and much like music recording. When recording music you want to start with a clean flat EQ uncolored signal that is gained properly. THEN you may choose to add color, efx, etc.

It’s like being handed a flattened photoshop file.. no way to make layer edits now.

So Apple makes home repairs impossible, cannot access the inside without voiding the warranty, can’t replace a battery, can’t upgrade memory, and now….. they’re choosing how all of your photos look for you.

The last rep I spoke with offered up this genius piece of advice.. “Sir you are welcome to go to apple.com/feedback and voice your concerns.”

Yeah lady, if I were going to take it that route I’d draft a well written open letter to Apple and see how many thousands of people to sign it, see how many tech and photo publications would run my letter for the love of what’s right.

Here’s all Apple has to do to fix this woeful business: Create an update.. hardware/firmware/software? to update the current version of ios and make this auto enhancement algorithm able to TURN OFF.


C’mon Apple jeez!!

Jan 26, 2022 7:16 AM in response to lecomoura

I have this issue too, it's terrible! I take a photo with perfect manual settings, then tap on it to see it and after one second of seeing the original it automatically gets enhanced, you're not able to undo this


UPDATE: I found an answer: https://appletoolbox.com/disable-photo-auto-enhance-iphone/

Basically it's a "feature" built into to phone chip by Apple and you can't undo it. All you can do is shoot in RAW (and have every single pic be 20 -30 MB). Congrats, Apple. Way to go. This is the worst scenario for photographers.






[Edited by Moderator]

Jun 11, 2022 1:16 AM in response to NoahrVT

Let me tell you its not a feature iam using my first iphone 13 pro at first i too annoyed about this then I studied about it and i have a solution its not a inbuilt camera feature or any algorithm just go to settings > photos> turn off view full hdr. Thats it your all photos will show normally so its not the issue of camera its the issue of photos app. Thank you

Mar 8, 2023 12:21 AM in response to lecomoura

All the solutions people suggest are only ways to somehow by-pass the problem, but they aren’t solutions.

I tried

  1. Using burst mode on the louder button
  2. RAW
  3. Portrait mode which always has been terrible - people look like puppets
  4. Using another frame of a Live Photo. This works but a blurry photo shouldn’t be the solution.


Example: I made a picture of a fruit shake, which naturally looks soft. The post-processing enhanced all the shadows, highlights, and details like bubbles and grains so much that it looks like a glass of pink concrete. Like a very bad HDR. The “auto-enhance” enhances details in people’s faces so much, that they end up looking older (as every soft detail like soft wrinkles are enhanced) and the photo just doesn’t look natural (as every contour is strongly enhanced).


I am thinking of returning the phone, but if the issue isn’t fixed I won’t ever decide for Apple again. I am a hobby photographer, and like to use my phone in situations in which I don’t have my DSLR. I really regret deciding for Apple and not android.


Apple, please let your users turn off the post-processing! The post-processed photos look like an amateur tried to use photoshop, to create an HDR. In case this is done to compete in camera tests, it’s not an user-focused approach.






May 10, 2022 7:23 PM in response to litha80

I changed it to Raw and the highlights are still blown after the auto enhance. The only solution I’ve found is to use a third party camera app. When I do the pics are beautiful. The camera is obviously capable of taking beautiful photos when the horrendous software is hobbled. But you have to use a third party app? Ridiculous.


Let us turn off this trash auto HDR.

Jul 27, 2023 9:46 AM in response to lecomoura

I found a solution for me. I have found if you take off live. And enable “burst” on your phone it won’t alter the photo. The only downside is the burst option you have to take multiple photos instead of just 1. But it works. I have also found if you use the front flash it won’t alter it.


You can find the burst option in settings, go to camera and enable the option “Use Volume Up for Burst.”


When you take your photos make sure you’re using the volume up button on the side of your phone and not the button on the screen. Hold it down for at least 2 seconds and that’s it! I also show below the effects of using burst vs no burst with no editing.


Please vote that this was helpful if it solved your problem




Apr 5, 2022 7:36 PM in response to Arturodeleon316

Apple knows there’s a problem. Apple’s unfortunate propaganda that garish colors with automatic irreversible post editing looks great is bad karma. Customers should not have to get a third party app to fix the deficit.

We all paid for an expensive phone with a flawed camera.

if it is a chip problem then a recall for replacement could be a financial tipping point(?) There is no reason to delay a software fix. I really dislike the situation. I’ve been an IPhone loyalist for years.

Using the 13 pro camera is tedious with dismal results . Apple is showing us that they have weighed the situation and it’s not profitable to fix the problems right now.

For me it’s: “Oh so Pro must Go”


Mar 9, 2022 12:22 PM in response to lecomoura

Hey guys, so I have the exact same issue. Pretty infuriating that apple haven’t yet provided a fix. One thing I do as a temporary fix is I downloaded this app called pro camera by moment which is free and well rated on the App Store. If you take photos through this instead of apples native camera app it will solve this issue. (This isn’t a plug) hope this helps.

Dec 15, 2023 7:17 PM in response to rehman23

Oh man.....Thank you for finding and posting this. This problem was driving me nuts using the stock Apple camera app and the Photos app! I resorted mostly to using the ProCamera app from Cocologics, but there are some features in the Apple camera app that I still like and use so I bounce back to it often, and then see that crazy result in the Photos app with the auto-brightened photos. Finally, with this setting off, freedom! :)

May 10, 2022 5:42 PM in response to laurelkoe

So this is to force ppl to buy the IPhone 13 Pro? Absolute garbage auto enhance.. My photos from iPhone 4 and 7 looked far better. These photos look like someone who just discovered HDR and turned it all the way up. Or like if you max out the brightness editing control. This os enraging especially when this phone is sold for its amazing photos!


if this is a software issue please fix it!


Enraging. Returning this phone. I’ll wait for the next one I guess.

Dec 30, 2021 6:43 AM in response to lecomoura

Hey there, lecomoura!


From your post, it sounds like you are working on changing settings for the camera on your iPhone 13 Pro. We’re glad that you reached out to the Apple Support Communities. We want to try and help you find the answers you need.


Have you had a chance to review your iPhone Camera settings and change them as needed? If not, you may want to start there. You may want to review your Scene Detection settings, Lens Correction, and Photographic Style. Here's how: About the Camera features on your iPhone.


We hope this information helps you out.


Take care!

Turn off Auto-Enhance / edit on iPhone

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