Apple released the second public beta of iOS 26 on Thursday, and the beta brings a new Liquid Glass design, call screening and more features to the iPhones of developers and beta testers. The beta also introduces a redesigned Camera app that simplifies some aspects of the app.
The Camera app revamp also inverts how you switch between different camera modes, like video, and it’s horrible. After years of swiping in one direction to get to a photo mode, imagine my surprise when I swiped and was sent in the opposite direction.
“I want to go to portrait mode, iPhone!” I would say while using the beta. “Well, that’s too damn bad!” I imagined my iPhone responding as it sent me to video mode instead.
CNET senior writer Jeff Carlson thinks the change is due to the Liquid Glass redesign.
“If you hold the lozenge and move it left or right, it’s the glass element that is being shifted and the modes (which change everything on the screen) go with it,” he said. “I can see the intent behind the design choice, even though it reverses years of learned behavior on the part of users.”
Apple introduced a toggle in the iOS 26 beta called Classic Mode Switching. It lets you undo Apple’s decision so you can swipe between Camera modes like you did prior to the iOS 26 beta.
Remember, Apple is still beta testing iOS 26. That means the update might be buggy for you, and your device’s battery life may be affected, so it’s best to keep potential troubles off your primary device. If you want to try out the beta, I recommend downloading it on a secondary device.
It’s also possible that Apple could adjust or remove certain features currently in the iOS 26 betas, including the Classic Mode Switching option, before the stable version of iOS 26 is released this fall.
Here’s where to find Classic Mode Switching to revert your Camera swipe direction.
How to ‘fix’ your Camera app’s swiping direction
1. Tap Settings.
2. Tap Camera.
3. Tap the Classic Mode Switching toggle near the bottom of the menu.
Apple/Screenshot by CNET
Once enabled, you can change between camera modes like you did before! It’s a simple quality-of-life change that I can see a lot of people looking for once they update to iOS 26.
Apple’s decision to invert the way we swipe to different camera modes might be a byproduct of Liquid Glass like Carlson suggested. But at least the tech giant also gave us the freedom to nullify this with the Classic Mode Switching toggle.
For more on iOS 26, here are my first impressions of the iOS version, how to enable call screening in the beta and all the other new features Apple said the update will bring to your device later this year.
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