Mystery iPhone black dot is baffling owners but it has a very important feature

02 September 2023 , 07:00

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iPhone fans have been left bamboozled by the mystery black circle on the back of their phones

On the surface, iPhones work seamlessly for users. But there's a lot going on under the hood that many Apple fans still don't understand. Take the back of the iPhone. Not only does it have a bunch of camera lenses but also a secret button that lets you interact with the screen.

But it's one aspect of the iPhone in particular which has left fans bamboozled. It's just next to the phone's array of lenses and looks like a small black circle. It's not a secret camera and it's not a torch, so what is it?

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That's the question a number of Reddit users have been asking as the device doesn't seem to have any clear purpose.

The black circle is what helps your iPhone camera autofocus - and perform a number of other tasks

It turns out that this weird black circle is actually vital to many of the iPhone's most powerful features. It's a LiDAR scanner, which stands for Light Detection and Ranging. In short, it basically fires out pulses of lasers and measures how long it takes for them to reflect back.

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This is what makes it possible for the iPhone to make maps of 3D objects for its augmented reality features. For example, if you want to place a 3D object in the camera view of the real world, your iPhone is able to measure where it is.

The LiDAR scanner also helps your iPhone camera autofocus and take clear pictures and videos. In other words, all those camera lenses on the device wouldn't work as well if it wasn't there.

There's also a hidden button inside the Apple logo on your iPhone (SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

This isn't the only hidden feature on the back of the iPhone. Most iPhones now include the 'Back Tap' tool, which is inside the Apple logo on the rear of the device. Introduced with iOS 14, it lets users assign a special action or function to the logo once it is tapped two or three times.

That means you can easily open Siri or your Camera app just by tapping on the back of the device, saving the need for you to unlock your iPhone. It works on most iPhones from the iPhone 8 and upwards and just has to be activated in your phone's Accessibility settings. Read our full guide to using Back Tap on iPhone to find out how

Ciaran Daly