iPhone 17 Pro Loses Night Mode Portrait Feature Available on iPhone 16 Pro

iPhone 17 Pro Removes Night Mode Portrait Capability

Apple's latest iPhone 17 Pro lineup has quietly lost a camera feature that was present in last year's iPhone 16 Pro: the ability to capture Night mode photos while using Portrait mode.

What Changed

According to an official Apple support document, the iPhone 17 Pro no longer supports Night mode when shooting in Portrait mode. This represents a step backward from the iPhone 16 Pro, which allowed users to combine both features for low-light portrait photography.

While Apple has promoted the iPhone 17 Pro as offering "a much-improved camera experience" over previous models, this specific functionality has been removed from the Camera app.

Why It Matters to Consumers

Night mode Portrait photography was a valuable feature for iPhone users who frequently take portrait photos in low-light conditions, such as indoor events, restaurants, or evening gatherings. The combination allowed for both the depth-of-field effect of Portrait mode and the enhanced low-light capabilities of Night mode.

For users upgrading from an iPhone 16 Pro to the iPhone 17 Pro, this represents a loss of functionality they may have relied on, despite other camera improvements in the new model.

What's Still Available

The iPhone 17 Pro still offers Night mode for standard photo capture and Portrait mode for well-lit situations—users simply can no longer combine the two features in a single shot. Apple has not publicly explained the reasoning behind removing this capability from the latest Pro models.