Apple confirms it: a magnet can destroy the camera of your iPhone

You should be very careful with the camera of your iPhone . Apple has confirmed that magnets or other magnetic accessories can interfere with the operation of the optical stabilizer, causing annoying vibration in your photos. This has a very simple explanation that the American company itself has shared on its website, although we are going to briefly summarize the issue for you.

There are users who have complained about this issue, showing their disagreement with the iOS 16 update of the operating system. However, the problem has nothing to do with the software, but is directly related to the hardware and construction of the smartphone itself.

a magnet can destroy the camera of your iPhone

Magnetic accessories break certain iPhones

A large part of the community has spoken out about this problem and for this reason Apple has dedicated a section of its website to the matter. The US company claims that magnets cause magnetic fields that can affect the rear cameras of your iPhone.

The secret of the incredible results that Apple mobiles achieve not only has to do with the great image processing, but also with the work of the optical stabilization (OIS) technology . This functionality makes the phone achieve sharp images even when moving the device by accident. Likewise, models that have closed-loop autofocus (AF) contribute to this same task, keeping photos and videos completely static.

Cámara periscópica Apple

The problem is that these types of components respond to magnetic fields, that is, if you place a magnet near them, an interference will be created that will disable their operation for a while. This means that there is the possibility of a very annoying vibration appearing when taking photos and you can even lose precision in the shot. Although it is true that other stabilization methods will continue to work, but the most decisive ones, such as OIS and autofocus, will remain disabled for a while.

On this basis, this inconvenience could also affect Android phones that have OIS . However, at the moment no errors have been reported in this regard and it is possible that it is due to the construction of these devices. On the other hand, Apple has indicated the models that have OIS or autofocus and with which you should be careful when bringing them close to a magnet:

  • iPhone 6 Plus, iPhone 6s Plus, iPhone 7 and later.
  • Second and third generation iPhone SE.
  • Autofocus is available on iPhone XS and later, as well as second- and third-generation iPhone SE models.

Avoid magnetic interference

There are many official cases from Apple itself and others from third parties that allow you to incorporate a magnet to place it in the car . Sometimes this magnetic mount is located near the iPhone camera, so for the best performance of the lens, try not to use accessories with magnets of this type.

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There are car mounts that don’t need a magnet to work and are just as safe. In any case, if after removing the magnetic accessory and waiting for a while, the camera continues to give problems, we advise you to contact Apple technical support to find the solution.