This Tiny iOS 26 Setting Magically Turns Your Old Photos Into 3D

Not gonna lie, this is amazing!

An image by the author.

Apple unveiled iOS 26 a few days ago, and it came with a ton of new features and a major design overhaul. But what captivated me the most was the new 3D effect for the pictures, which Apple casually addressed as ‘Spatial Scenes’.

I get where Apple is coming from. Since the new iOS 26 is heavily inspired by the visionOS, it justifies the name. But we still didn’t get the circular icons as we expected. Anyway, this rant is for another time.

The new 3D photo effect takes advantage of the iPhone’s gyroscope hardware. The popped-out image dynamically tilts as you move your iPhone around. Here’s a clear look at it:

A GIF by the author.

Now, I happened to install the first developer beta version of iOS 26 on day one, on my main device, and I’ve been fidgeting around with this new 3D feature for around two days.

There are two ways…or I must say ‘places’ where the 3D photo takes effect, pun intended. The first is the Lock Screen, and the second is the Photos app, which by the way, Apple also redesigned.