Halide Camera App Update Adds Full Variable Aperture Control for iPhone 18 Pro
Halide Mark III now offers continuous aperture selection from f/1.48 to f/4.0 on the iPhone 18 Pro, surpassing Apple’s four presets and competitors’ 10. The September 30 update also adds Dawn and Quicksilver film looks.
Lux Optics has released an update to its Halide Mark III camera app for iPhone and iPad that adds full manual control over the variable aperture on the iPhone 18 Pro’s main camera, along with two new photography looks. The update arrived on September 30, 2026.
While Halide is not the first third-party app to support the iPhone 18 Pro’s variable aperture feature, it offers the most granular control available. Apple’s native iOS camera app limits aperture adjustments to four presets. Competing apps BlackMagic Camera and Moment Pro Camera II each expand that to 10 presets in one-third stop increments. Halide Mark III goes further, allowing users to select any f-stop value between f/1.48 and f/4.0. The developers have indicated they may add f-stop presets in a future update based on user feedback.
The update also introduces two new looks to Halide’s film simulation engine. The first, called Dawn, applies what Lux Optics describes as “filmic warmth in the mid-tones and highlights with gentle, rich shadows.” The second, Quicksilver, “pairs high contrast with muted color, inspired by silver-retention processes.” Both join an existing collection of looks that shipped when Halide Mark III launched earlier in 2026.
The variable aperture control may appeal to photographers who want finer creative influence over depth of field and light intake than Apple’s native app currently allows. For those users, Halide’s continuous f-stop selection offers a level of control closer to what traditional digital cameras provide.