It's a mystery. Night mode isn't available in Portrait Mode on the iPhone 17 Pro, and no one seems to know why. Yet.
Night mode automatically brightens photos and captures more details, even in low-light conditions. You can adjust the exposure time manually. In Portrait mode, the camera focuses sharply on the subject you're snapping and blurs the background, creating a depth-of-field effect.
The first clue that Night mode for Portrait mode was gone came from an Apple support document titled Take Night mode photos with your iPhone camera. It states what many iPhone aficionados already know: "Night mode automatically brightens photos and captures more detail in low light."
Don't miss any of our unbiased tech content and lab-based reviews. Add CNET as a preferred Google source.
Night mode for the iPhone 17 Pro is listed in two separate parts of the iPhone online user guide (here and also here) for selfies and time-lapse photos. But it isn't included on the guide's list for snapping Night mode photos in Portrait mode. The feature is still available on iPhone Pro and Pro Max on the 12, 13, 14, 15 and 16 series.
Upon investigation, CNET staffers verified that, indeed, Night mode is no longer an option in Portrait mode with the iPhone 17 Pro.
An Apple representative didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.
When the iPhone 17 Pro was launched in September, Andrew Lanxon, CNET's lead photographer in Europe, was impressed by the camera upgrades over the iPhone 16 Pro, including optical zoom that doubled to 8x, a telephoto camera sensor 56% larger than before and 48 megapixels of resolution.
Lanxon, a professional photographer and YouTuber, was excited to get shooting with the iPhone 17 Pro. But apparently, he will have to do without Night mode in Portrait mode.
Why did Apple do it?
... continue reading