Kids have sticky fingers. If they touch your iPhone, you can expect smudges on your screen and possibly your camera lens. It’s not always your kids’ fault. Even adults can smudge your lens and get dirt on it. So your photos might look hazy and you’ll probably have to take the photo multiple times. Luckily, with iOS 26 there’s a feature that can warn you when your camera lens needs cleaning, that way you don’t waste a perfectly good sunset or other Instagrammable moment.
Apple released iOS 26 in September, and it brought a handful of new features to your iPhone, like call screening, new ringtones and more. It also introduced an easy-to-overlook feature called Lens Cleaning Hints. When this feature is enabled, your iPhone will display a warning if your camera lens needs a good clean.
This feature was automatically enabled for me after I downloaded iOS 26 but here’s where to find it in case it’s not turned on for you. It’s important to note that this feature is only available on iPhone 15 and later models, so if you have an iPhone 14 Pro, you won’t see this option.
Don’t miss any of our unbiased tech content and lab-based reviews. Add CNET as a preferred Google source.
How to enable Lens Cleaning Hints
1. Tap Settings.
2. Tap Camera.
3. Tap the Lens Cleaning Hints toggle near the bottom of the menu.
When enabled, your iPhone will detect if its camera lens is smudged and your device will tell you to clean it to improve your image quality. It’s a nice way to make sure you always get a good picture and it could be helpful if you let your kids play with your phone, leaving smudges all over it.
For more iOS news, here’s everything you should know about iOS 26.2, the new features that were included in iOS 26.1 and my review of iOS 26. You can also check out our iOS 26 cheat sheet.