This Secret iPhone Camera Feature Can Help Keep Your Lens Clean

10 hours ago 3

Kids have sticky fingers. If they touch your iPhone, you can expect smudges on your screen and possibly your camera lens. So if you go to take take a photo after your kid has your device, the pic might look hazy, and you'll probably have to take the photo multiple times. It's not always your kids' fault. Even adults can smudge your lens and get dirt on it. Luckily, with iOS 26 there's a feature that can warn you when your camera lens needs cleaning, that way you don't waste a perfectly good sunset or other Instagrammable moment.

Apple released iOS 26 in September, and it brought a handful of new features to your iPhone, like call screening, new ringtones and more. It also introduced an easy-to-overlook feature called Lens Cleaning Hints. When this feature is enabled, your iPhone will display a warning if your camera lens needs a good clean.

This feature was automatically enabled for me after I downloaded iOS 26, but here's where to find it in case it's not turned on for you. It's important to note that this feature is only available on iPhone 15 and later models, so if you have an iPhone 14 Pro, you won't see this option.

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How to enable Lens Cleaning Hints

1. Tap Settings.
2. Tap Camera.
3. Tap the Lens Cleaning Hints toggle near the bottom of the menu.

Lens Cleaning Hints in the Camera menu in Settings.

When enabled, your iPhone will detect if its camera lens is smudged, and your device will tell you to clean it to improve your image quality. It's a nice way to make sure you always get a good picture, and it could be helpful if you let your kids play with your phone, leaving smudges all over it.

For more on iOS 26, here's my review of the OS, how to reduce the Liquid Glass effects in the update and how to enable call and text screening on your iPhone. You can also check out our iOS 26 cheat sheet.