The photos on my iPhone 15 are coming out blurry and dark, any advice?

IdrisSeabright wrote:

Carol B. wrote:

Thanks for the links, lobsterghost1. I just ordered my iPhone 15 Pro and plan to go thru those links to learn all I can about the new phone!!

It is an absolutely awesome phone! I got mine on launch day and am still absurdly pleased with it.

Indeed it is. And if I thought my 14 Pro Max cameras were good (which they were) the 15 Pro Max is even better!

My photos look great on my camera roll but when I go to move them anywhere, (text, screen shot, Instagram or other social media) the image looks dull and dark. I use photos as my main way to promote my business and this has me heartbroken as my time to refund has passed.

Hmmm, maybe I’m confused, but I just set up my phone and was able to take photos. It never asked me how I wanted them saved.

Do you mean which mode am I shooting in? The photos I take both in portrait mode and live are behaving this way when I go to use them in anything other than my camera roll.

Yes Apple Store Genius Bar appt yesterday resulted in them saying nothing is wrong with my device. And I agree the photos look AMAZING in my camera roll.

Its like the HDR gets turned off whenever I try to transfer my photo in any way

If you're taking full size images, there is a size limit on the forum. But that screen shot looks amazing, tbh.

And honestly, I don't think there's anything wrong with your iPhone. I think the issue you're experiencing is with the forums you're posting photos too. I don't think they've been optimized to handle the metadata of the photos you're trying to upload to them. You can't fix that. They're downgrading your photos when you upload them.

This is not an uncommon issue with forums like Instagram and Facebook as two examples.

It looks much better and true to life in my camera roll. My 11 Pro Max never had this issue with being able to upload and have them look the same.

If it was an issue with the platforms I’m uploading to, wouldn’t they still look the same if I screen shot and view in my phone? Or email to myself and view on

my phone? Any of these things are changing the appearance of the photo.

Over the last couple years, people have come on the forum and complained about uploaded photos to Instagram and Facebook. At one point, the photos uploaded to Instagram were just awful and so many people complained and Instagram had to work with Apple to help the resolution differences.

I'd reach out to Instagram if I were you. I can't pretty much bet this is on their end, not yours. Keep in mind, you've never had an iPhone which could take photos up to 24GB or even 48GB if you're shooting raw. No forum you can post to is going to accept all that data when you upload a photo. They're going to downgrade the photo to MB, not GB.

The picture looks amazing, did you try to resize them yourself before posting them? Probably you are using 24/48MP, the iPhone 11 pro max was max 12MP, probably the auto resizing of social media you use are worsening the quality of your photo and less for a smaller size like 12 or less MP, even in the email you can set the size of the file you are attaching. Give it a try

You can also set the Camera in Camera settings>Formats>Photo Mode at 12 MP

You mean there was a problem with the camera on YOUR iPhone 15 Pro. We own iPhone 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max and both of them take stunningly great pictures, which are neither dark, nor blurry. This does not mean every iPhone 15 Pro out there has such an issue.

You did well to ask for a refund.

I thought maybe it was my phone which as a problem but when i tried to take pictures with the samples at the Apple Store they all took crap pictures.

Im mostly talking about the frontal camera you guys.

Did you find a solution to this problem? I bought the iPhone 15 pro max and I have tried numerous things and the pictures come out dark or grayed and distorted. Very disappointed in this camera and I went from an XR which had a much better camera. There is no operator error it takes horrible pictures.

This is horrible! I, too, am a photographer and the quality is appalling. I am coming from a 14 pro that didn’t really need upgrade but I find myself using portrait mode a lot because of its efficiency compared to my Nikon. I took a shot today with both phones and this is the result: blurry and noisy!! I’ve checked all camera settings and I have to say I’m super disappointed and considering paying the restock fee! Has anyone had resolution?

[Edited by Moderator]

Did you go from an iPhone 14 Pro to an iPhone 15? If you did, the difference in clarity makes perfect sense. Your 14 Pro had a camera which can take closeup photos, whereas the focal length of the 15 cannot. As a photographer, I'm sure you're well aware of the differences in a camera which can focus closer as opposed to one, which can't. Only the Pro model iPhone's can take closer photos with a higher degree of focus.

What Nikon camera is it exactly? If those are the pictures taken with an iPhone 14 pro, you have a seriuos problem with it, either return it or if you had it already tested and nothing was found I suggest you to read about how to use the iPhone camera settings

iPhone 15 Pro Max Front Camera: Not What I Expected

I recently got the iPhone 15 Pro Max, excited about its camera. But, like another user said, my front camera photos are also coming out blurry and dark, which is a big letdown. This person mentioned their photos had a gray tone, and sadly, I’m having the same problem with the front camera.

Even after getting a new screen and front camera, the issue didn’t go away. The weird part is, the photo looks great right before you take it with the front camera, but the actual picture ends up dark and grainy. I didn’t mess with the settings, so it’s all how Apple set it up.

I looked online and saw I’m not the only one unhappy with this. It’s a shame because taking good selfies and front camera photos is a big deal for me, and previous iPhones were great at this. The iPhone 15 Pro Max has a lot of cool features, but the front camera, which should be one of the best parts, just isn’t cutting it.

So, even though there’s a lot to like about the new iPhone, the front camera has been a big disappointment for me. I hope Apple listens to what people are saying and fixes it.