The iPhone 16s Camera Control feature arrived to mixed reviews, including from me. But iOS 18.2 upgrades the feature in several key ways, making it what it was always meant to be.Visual intelligence unlocks a new camera superpowerThe biggest change for Camera Control in iOS 18.2 is visual intelligence.By long-pressing Camera Control, your iPhones camera can launch in a special mode that provides key information about the world around youand shortcuts to take action on that info.Heres how Apple describes it:Users can click and hold Camera Control to pull up the hours or ratings for a restaurant they pass, add an event from a flyer to their calendar, quickly identify a dog by breed, and more. Camera Control will also serve as a gateway into third-party tools with specific domain expertise, like when users want to search on Google to find where they can buy an item, or to benefit from ChatGPTs problem-solving skills.My colleague Fernando made a video outlining 10 distinct uses for visual intelligence. I highly recommend checking it out to see whats your iPhone 16 can now do on iOS 18.2.Faster camera launcher than beforeAnother key upgrade in iOS 18.2 is that you can use Camera Control to launch the Camera app faster than ever before.By visiting Settings Display and Brightness youll find a new toggle for Camera Control: Require Screen On.iOS 18.2 defaults to this toggle being on, which makes Camera Control work like it always has. But if you switch it off, youll be able to launch your camera even when the iPhones display is off.Basically this removes a step and lets you capture an image faster. No more needing to press Camera Control once to wake your device and a second time to launch the Camera (or tapping your display first to wake it).Just grab your iPhone, press Camera Control and your camera will be ready to go.More new features and settingsiOS 18.2 also introduces a two-stage shutter feature like Apple demoed back in September.Inside Settings Camera Camera Control, theres a new AE/AF Lock toggle. Nice that they're already adding improvements and listening to feedback, but it still feels too limiting to only have access to camera functions. This should've been billed as Action Button 2.0 with support for custom actions. You should be able to use it to scroll up and down on webpages, scrub through videos, maybe even assign it to volume control and use the two existing volume buttons as two more Action Buttons! View all commentsEnabling this means a light press on Camera Control will lock both focus and exposure, so you can press lightly to lock those details in, then press harder to actually take your photo.Theres also a new option in Settings Accessibility Camera Control to control the speed of a double-click action. You can choose from three options: Default, Slow, and Slower.iOS 18.2 Camera Control wrap-upCamera Control in iOS 18.2 is the feature Apple clearly wanted to ship with the iPhone 16, but was unable to. It makes the new dedicated button a lot more useful than before, such that it actually becomes the killer feature it was meant to be.Have you been using Camera Control in iOS 18.2? What do you think of the changes? Let us know in the comments.Best iPhone accessoriesAdd 9to5Mac to your Google News feed. FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.Youre reading 9to5Mac experts who break news about Apple and its surrounding ecosystem, day after day. Be sure to check out our homepage for all the latest news, and follow 9to5Mac on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn to stay in the loop. Dont know where to start? Check out our exclusive stories, reviews, how-tos, and subscribe to our YouTube channel