Testing the iPhone 18 Pro revealed that the iOS Camera app in manual mode offers only four aperture settings: f/1.48, f/1.8, f/2.8, and f/4. These represent full stops of light control, with no intermediate options. This limitation is not tied to the phone’s sensor, as Apple’s Software Development Kit (SDK), which provides tools for developers, allows for much more precise control—up to ten stops with intermediate settings between f/1.48 and f/4.0. Two third-party apps have already taken advantage of this expanded range: BlackMagic Camera, which was the first to support these settings on the day of the iPhone 18 Pro’s release, September 18, 2026, and Moment Pro Camera II, priced at $12.99 (about 11 euros), which announced an update on X. Apple has acknowledged the four available settings. When asked by PetaPixel, Matt Waldon, director of photography hardware at Apple, explained that the variable aperture feature was introduced to balance sensitivity and sharpness. The f/1.8 setting is the default, as it is seen as the best balance between brightness and clarity. Apple stated that manual controls are primarily designed to introduce manual photography to a broader audience, and currently, users only have access to four settings, though the company leaves the door open for future enhancements. This gap between advanced hardware capabilities and more limited built-in applications is not new. For example, features like RAW image format and ProRes video were first available in third-party apps before Apple integrated them into its own ecosystem. External developers often push hardware capabilities faster than the manufacturer itself. BlackMagic, which beat Moment by a few days, is a smaller version of this trend. This means users can now take advantage of the iPhone 18 Pro’s flagship features highlighted in recent tests without waiting for Apple to update its own apps.