How To Reset The Camera Settings On Your iPhone

If you’ve been tinkering with the iPhone’s Camera app for months—playing with HDR, adjusting frame rates, or just trying to squeeze out a little extra sharpness—your default view might feel lost in a sea of toggles. The good news? Resetting everything back to stock isn’t a hidden treasure hunt; it’s a few taps away.

First, open Settings and scroll down to Camera. The layout will differ slightly depending on your model and iOS version, but you’ll always see a section called Preserve Settings. Those switches control whether the app remembers things like exposure, focus, or Live Photo mode between sessions. By default, every toggle is OFF except Live Photo, which means the camera already tries to revert to its original state each time you close it.

Below that, you’ll find the core defaults you’ll want to double‑check:

• Video resolution: 1080p at 30 fps (or 240 fps for slo‑mo). If your phone supports Cinematic mode, it follows the same rule.
• Audio: Stereo (or Spatial Audio on iPhone 16+).
• Formats: High Efficiency (HEIF/HEVC) enabled.
• Grid and Level overlays: OFF.
• Smart HDR and “Prioritize Faster Shooting”: ON.

If you’re on iOS 26, a few newer switches appear. Lens Correction, Macro Control, and Scene Detection should be turned ON, while the default photo resolution sits at 24 MP. ProRAW and Resolution Control stay OFF unless you deliberately enable them.

For the impatient, there’s a shortcut that essentially hits the reset button on everything: go to Settings → Transfer or Reset iPhone → Reset → Reset All Settings. This nukes every system‑wide preference—Wi‑Fi passwords, Apple Pay cards, wallet passes, and more—returning the whole device to factory defaults. It’s a heavy‑handed move, so only use it if you’re ready to re‑enter those details.

In most cases, simply toggling the options in the Camera settings page is enough to get you back to the baseline. From there, you can experiment again with a clean slate, knowing exactly which changes improve your shots and which just add clutter.