My favorite change in iOS 26.1 has nothing to do with Liquid Glass, though cosmetic tweaks to the glossy user interface have drawn the most attention in the latest OS update. To me, the biggest improvement is the option to disable the Lock Screen swipe to open the iPhone’s Camera app.
I frequently pull out my iPhone to find the Camera app has been running in my pocket, draining the battery. It’s that damn Lock Screen swipe at fault. If this happens to you, too, here’s how to disable it in iOS 26.1.
The best iOS 26.1 feature you probably haven’t noticed yet
iOS 26.1 launched this week, and a new setting for Liquid Glass was the centerpiece. It doesn’t fully disable Apple’s translucent and fluid new iPhone UI, but it makes parts of it more opaque. However, it turns out most people like Liquid Glass, so this setting won’t get used as often as some might think.
iOS 26.1 does include a change that benefits a broad swath of iPhone users, though: the ability to turn off the swipe gesture on the Lock Screen to open the Camera app.
Admittedly, this gesture seems like it should be a good idea. Many of us frequently use our iPhones as cameras, and making that feature very accessible seems logical. The problem is, the swipe gesture makes the iPhone’s camera too accessible. It’s easy to accidentally swipe to open the Camera app while sliding your handset into your pocket.
Surely everyone has pulled their iPhone out of their pocket to discover that it’s active and running the Camera app. And it’s possible the app has been running for a long time. It should time out and let the iPhone go to sleep, but the device’s touchscreen can sense your hands through fabric, so just touching your pants can keep the app running on and on.
It will even take pictures or video of the inside of your pocket. Not great.
Graphic: Ed Hardy/Cult of Mac
The real issue here is battery drain. iPhones last a long time on a single charge, but finding out the device wasted a bunch of power while in a pocket is frustrating. Not only is the screen on for no good reason, the camera is active as well.
To make the problem even more irritating, the swipe to open Camera gesture isn’t really needed. By default, there’s a button on the Lock Screen to open the Camera application. And people with recent iPhones can utilize the Camera Control to launch the camera.
But in iOS 26.1, Apple finally, finally lets us disable the gesture at the heart of this problem.
How to disable the Lock Screen swipe that opens the Camera in iOS 26.1
Graphic: Ed Hardy/Cult of Mac
Fortunately, disabling this Lock Screen swipe gesture is simple after you update to iOS 26.1. You only need to know where to look.
To find it, open the Settings app on your iPhone, then scroll down to Camera. Tap on it.
Scroll way down to near the bottom of the Camera settings to find Lock Screen Swipe to Open Camera. It’s set to active by default. Tap the toggle next to it to disable the gesture.
And you’re done. (Now go do this on your iPad, too.)
More options are better
I’m quite sure some of you regularly use the swipe gesture on the iPhone Lock Screen to open the Camera app, and have no intention of disabling it. That’s great. Carry on.
This iOS 26.1 change is the best kind: Apple didn’t remove the swipe gesture. The company just gave users the option to choose for themselves whether to use it. The same goes for the new option to greatly tone down Liquid Glass.
When it comes to the Apple devices we know and love, more options are better.
Ed Hardy has been writing full-time about tech for 25 years, and using it for much longer than that. His intro to Apple was a Macintosh Classic II (which he still has), but now he uses a 13-inch iPad Pro as his primary computer. He’s written for NotebookReview, TabletPCReview, and Brighthand, as well as other sites.
