Today, Apple slaps the new Liquid Glass design and call screening, among other features, on the iPhones of developers and beta testers as it releases the second public beta of iOS 26 on Thursday. This beta also brings a refreshed Camera app that makes a few aspects of the app easier to use. It’s also made switching to other camera modes, such as video, awful by inverting the way you switch between them in the Camera app revamp. After all this time swiping one way to reach a photo mode, I swiped and I was sent the other way, which was pure shocker.
“Hey iPhone, let’s go into portrait mode!” I would say for pounds while on the beta vs “Well, that’s too damn bad!” Instead, I pictured my iPhone thinking, hmmm, video mode it is.
According to CNET’s senior writer, Jeff Carlson, the change is likely made as part of the Liquid Glass redesign. Classic Mode Switching allows users to get back the old behavior while Apple plays around with Liquid Glass in the beta. Apple’s new Classic Mode Switching toggle is a stopgap for old Camera swipe direction fans.
In the iOS 26 beta, Apple added a setting named Classic Mode Switching. It reverses Apple’s whole decision so that you can swipe between Camera modes as you could before the iOS 26 beta. In some beta builds, Classic Mode Switching is off by default and must be enabled to get the old behaviour back.
Keep in mind that iOS 26 is still in beta at Apple. That could mean that the update you get could be filled with bugs, which means your device will have horrible battery life, so they are best kept away from your main device to stay away from all that trouble.
If you want to test the beta too, I suggest downloading it on a secondary device. And it may be that by the time iOS 26 ships this fall as a stable release, Apple has changed or dropped some of the features in the iOS 26 betas, including Classic Mode Switching.
Which is where to go to Classic Mode Switching to change your Camera swiping direction back
To ‘correct’ the swipe direction in your Camera app
- Tap Settings.
- Tap Camera.
- 3: 11: Scroll down in this menu to find the Classic Mode Switching toggle, and tap it. Once enabled, you can switch between camera modes as you used to! This one is straightforward quality-of-life improvement that I can imagine many users seeking out the moment they update to iOS 26.
As Carlson also speculated, Apple inverting how we swipe between various camera modes could be a side effect of Liquid Glass. At least the tech giant also provided a way to negate this with the toggle for Classic Mode Switching, though.
Classic Mode SwitchingNotes & Tips
- Classic Mode Switching — App Switcher View will change the swipe direction for moving between Camera modes (#3777)
- Classic Mode Switch aka Classic pedalling mode sure to be in iOS 26 beta builds under Settings > Camera
- Classic Mode Switching — Useful if you want the swiping behavior of pre-iOS 26.
Make sure if you’re running iOS 26 you turn on Classic Mode Switching to get the old Camera controls back. Mode Switcher for Classic restores the intuitive mode switching for veteran iPhone users. Classic Mode Switching (choose between new Liquid Glass behavior or classic Camera swipe direction)
Conclusion
Classic Mode Switching is a toggle that addresses a surprisingly irritating design change. Classic Mode Switching makes the Camera app behave the same way in Android 12 and allows users to decide which experience they want. The redesigned Camera app may have thrown off your muscle memory — enable Classic Mode Switching and you can go back to swiping like you always used to.
FAQ
Camera has a Classic Mode Switching toggle in iOS 26 that flips the direction for scrolling between shooting modes.
Classic Mode Switching is located in Settings > Camera. Enable Classic Mode Switching to revert to the pre-iOS 26 swipe direction
Classic Mode Switching is a user configurable setting that Microsoft made available as part of the iOS 26 betas. For now consider Classic Mode Switching a beta feature that Apple could alter or remove altogether before the final release.
