Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Mobile
  3. Legacy Archives

Hack unlocks secret iPhone panorama camera mode

Add as a preferred source on Google
iPhone 4 camera
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Your iPhone’s camera can do something you didn’t know it can do: shoot panorama photos! This secret feature was uncovered by hacker and software developer conradev, reports iDownload Blog. He did so by tinkering with the iOS SDK, which unlocked the world-grabbing feature. Once enabled, the shooting mode allows users to shoot continuously from left to right.

After conradev revealed his finding, a number of other iOS jailbreakers have confirmed the hack. And renowned jailbreak developer chpwn has released a new version of his iPhone jailbreak in Cydia, called “Firebreaker,” that will automatically enable the panorama mode for those who use this jailbreak.

Recommended Videos

While this is the first time we’ve heard about this hidden feature, it certainly won’t be the last. We expect Apple has embedded this feature for testing, and plans to release it at some point in the future — so it’s not likely that they’re very happy about this leak.

From what we’ve seen of the photos so far, they are definitely panoramic pictures. But they lack the Apple polish, which is why we weren’t meant to see this feature just yet. Still, it’s interesting to catch a glimpse of what Apple has up its sleeve.

To find out more about how to enable panorama mode on your iPhone, click here.

Andrew Couts
Features Editor for Digital Trends, Andrew Couts covers a wide swath of consumer technology topics, with particular focus on…
Snapchat Planets: What’s the order, and what do they mean?
Snapchat Planets turns your best friends list into a solar system, and yes, your orbit says a lot
Snapchat Planets being shown on the Snapchat app on iPhone.

Snapchat is already packed with little symbols that can be weirdly hard to decode. You have streaks, emojis, badges, scores, Best Friends, and if you use Snapchat Plus, a tiny solar system that shows where you sit in someone’s closest-friends list.

The feature is called Friend Solar System, though most people just call it Snapchat Planets. It takes your position in a friend’s Snapchat orbit and turns it into a planet. From Mercury to Neptune, these celestial bodies signify how close a person is to you.

Read more
How to use WhatsApp Web
We'll show you how to use WhatsApp on your desktop or laptop
WhatsApp Web

As one of the most popular messaging services, you’ve already heard of WhatsApp. From its humble beginnings in 2009—two years before Apple introduced iMessage—to its acquisition by Facebook (now Meta) in 2014, WhatsApp has become the dominant messaging platform around the globe.

In recent years, it's grown even more potent with new features like video messages, self-destructing voice messages, the ability to edit sent messages, and more. We even finally got an WhatsApp iPad app in May 2025.

Read more
What is WhatsApp? How to use the app, tips, tricks, and more
From setting it up to mastering hidden features, here is your complete guide to WhatsApp.
WhatsApp app store listing open on iPhone

There's no shortage of messaging apps out there. The past decade has given us more options than we know what to do with, largely because smartphones demanded something better than plain old SMS.

Both the App Store and the Play Store are packed with apps that promise to revolutionize the way we communicate. Most of them didn't make it. The truth is, a messaging app is only as good as the number of people using it, and most apps never cross that threshold.

Read more