iOS 15 beta automatically removes famous iPhone lens flare from photos

A change spotted in iOS 15 appears to indicate that the most recent beta of Apple's new software for iPhone 12 and beyond can automatically remove Apple's famous 'green orb' lens flare from iPhone photos in post-processing.

According to a user on reddit, Apple's iOS 15 camera app can remove lens flare from photos in post-processing, as seen in the side by side photos above. (Look above the trees to the sky on the left-hand side of the photo).

After one user raised the feature, another user replied "Well S***, you're right!", before noting a caveat that the feature doesn't seem to work on all textures like trees or through screens.

Users have noted that this feature isn't exclusive to the iPhone 12, with some stating it works on the iPhone XS too, suggesting it will work across Apple's range of devices. Comments indicate the feature doesn't seem to work for videos or live photos, only still images, and that there seems to be some sort of software judgment made on when to remove the flare:

It definitely has a judgement system as another redditor pointed out - I imagine in doors it thinks it's just a light that's supposed to be there. I've tested this out quite a bit outside and if the lens flare is massive (covering a lot of the photo) it just leaves it, but if it's a small to medium sized dot in a place that's obviously not supposed to be there it'll delete it

Another user noting:

Yeah there's a general lens flare that just happens with photography and then there's this more anomalistic lens flare popping up in the last few generations of iPhone cameras.

This seems to be only tackling the second one, which would explain why the indoor flares aren't being touched since that's going to happen in general with most cameras.

With iOS 15 Apple also debuted Portrait mode for FaceTime calls and Live Text, which uses your device's camera to scan for text and copy it.