Squared photos are basically full phoros but cropped now? How to fix this?

[kb1985]

So I’ve recently discovered that since iOS 14 whenever you take square photo it actually saves full photo and crops it. I understand this might be useful for people who want to do additional edits to their photos. But it is not the best news for people who take lots of photos and don’t need all the additional data.

Any way to deal with this? Currently the only solution I know is to airdrop square photo to another device and then airdrop it back - all the unnecessary data is removed. Or you can use one of the third party photo apps.

IMO they should:
1) add easy way to turn off this feature in native app
2) add easy way to drop the cropped data from alraedy saved photos

 

[AllergyDoc]

I just took a square photo with my Mini 5, went to edit it in Photos and it was indeed square. When I tapped on Original for size of crop, nothing changed.

 

[kb1985]

I just took a square photo with my Mini 5, went to edit it in Photos and it was indeed square. When I tapped on Original for size of crop, nothing changed.

Take a square photo, click edit, move the selection up and down - you can freely move out of the current frame and see previously invisible part of photos. I think they added it in iOS 14 and applies for iPhones X (XS?) and newer.

 

[AllergyDoc]

Take a square photo, click edit, move the selection up and down - you can freely move out of the current frame and see previously invisible part of photos. I think they added it in iOS 14 and applies for iPhones X (XS?) and newer.

Okay. Just tried it with my XR and taking a square photo isn’t even an option. I’m on 14.3 b3. I see your point with newer devices.

 

[kb1985]

Okay. Just tried it with my XR and taking a square photo isn’t even an option. I’m on 14.3 b3. I see your point with newer devices.

It’s a bit hidden but it is there - tap an arrow at the top of the screen when taking regular photo and you can select square. Unnecessary extra step IMO but I guess square photos must be out of fashiin according to their research. But honestly, maybe it’s just me but it seems impossible to have regular squares here, only those weird cropped photos that take twice as much storage and imagine number of data that is going to get photographed that way (part of document/card you wish you hadn’t had on that photo or even accidental nudes LOL).

 

[Runs For Fun]

Take a square photo, click edit, move the selection up and down - you can freely move out of the current frame and see previously invisible part of photos. I think they added it in iOS 14 and applies for iPhones X (XS?) and newer.

Which device do you have? This sounds like it might be a feature with the wide angle lens which would be the 11 or newer.

 

[kb1985]

Good catch - that was my first thought too, but unfortunatelly that’s not the deal. I am on XS. And based on the photo history I have figured out the issue occures since the day I updated to iOS 14. With wide angle in camera settings you can turn off the feature but can’t see anything like that in XS that could let me take proper square photos on XS. I wonder how square photos look on newer devices, if it is possible to switch that off.

 

[AllergyDoc]

It’s a bit hidden but it is there - tap an arrow at the top of the screen when taking regular photo and you can select square.

Got it. And it does save the entire photo on my XR.

 

[contacos]

Does the same on 12 Pro Max but are you really this low on storage to worry about something like that?

 

[kb1985]

Does the same on 12 Pro Max but are you really this low on storage to worry about something like that?

Not really. Got about 130 GB free on my 512 GB device. But I am kind of OCD perfectionist I guess. And I imagine it might be an issue for some people in extreme cases (mentioned in earlier posts). So just curious if there is a way to solve this - using third party photo app seems the solution for now.

 

[Böhme417]

I just tried this, and yes, it does take a "full-frame" 4:3 photo cropped to square, but the file size difference appears to be negligible (a fraction of a MB).

Not really. Got about 130 GB free on my 512 GB device. But I am kind of OCD perfectionist I guess. And I imagine it might be an issue for some people in extreme cases (mentioned in earlier posts). So just curious if there is a way to solve this - using third party photo app seems the solution for now.

Not to go off on a tangent, but I don't see how this is either OCD or "perfectionism."

 

[ian6969]

My X stores just the square photo, but this model is too old for the fancy “out of frame” features. Which is a shame, as I like taking square photos and this feature would be great!

 

[PMR]

So I’ve recently discovered that since iOS 14 whenever you take square photo it actually saves full photo and crops it. I understand this might be useful for people who want to do additional edits to their photos. But it is not the best news for people who take lots of photos and don’t need all the additional data.

Any way to deal with this? Currently the only solution I know is to airdrop square photo to another device and then airdrop it back - all the unnecessary data is removed. Or you can use one of the third party photo apps.

IMO they should:
1) add easy way to turn off this feature in native app
2) add easy way to drop the cropped data from alraedy saved photos

A compressed HEIF is as small as it gets, so, the rest of the image from 4:3 to 3:3 is negligible. Plus, you can’t shoot only a square, as the sensor is 4:3 and it has to take the full photo first and then crop it, that’s how it works in every other phone. Having that bit of a photo to work in post processing, is a plus in my opinion.

 

[Ruggy]

Are you sure it didn't do it before, or is it possible that it's just letting you see it now?
It's always going to take a picture with the whole sensor and crop it.
I don't think it's possible to take a photo only using part of the sensor natively.

 

[Plett]

FWIW I agree with you that it should be an option to memorialize the square format once captured even if one had to click an extra button. For most it won’t matter but it clearly does for some. Interesting observation.