The low-cost iPhone XR features some decent hardware including face unlock, edge-to-edge design, A12 Bionic chipset and more. However, when compared to the iPhone X, XS, XS Max, it falls short due to the lack of proper Portrait mode. It currently only works on people and not objects. However, the developers of popular camera app Halide, have found depth data on the iPhone XR and can enable Portrait mode for non-people.
With the stock Camera app on iOS, if you try to take an iPhone XR Portrait mode image of your pet or an object, a message will appear that reads “no person detected.” This seemingly is a software limitation, as Apple is relying heavily on software to mimic the camera features of dual-camera iPhones on the single-lens iPhone XR.
Depth on iPhone XR vs iPhone XS. The XR has 1/4 the depth data. (Ignore color differences.) pic.twitter.com/WMkDtznY5o
— Ben Sandofsky (@sandofsky) October 27, 2018
Halide developers in a Reddit post revealed that they currently have Portrait mode working on pets through their app. The post reads: “with some more tooling,” they’ll likely be able to release a version of the Halide app that enables iPhone XR Portrait mode that should work on other subjects as well. However, Halide developers say iPhone XR Portrait mode seems to be “more temperamental in some settings” than the iPhone XS.
Additionally, they note that the depth map on the iPhone XR is lower resolution than the dual-camera iPhones, but that it “seems usable.” Meaning, it might not work if there’s not enough variance in relative distance of objects. This also opens up the possibilities where third-party apps should be able to enable a form of Portrait mode for more than people. You can download the Halide app from App Store.