Confirmed: Apple Silently Removed Night Mode Portrait on iPhone 17 Pro

Left in the Dark: iPhone 17 Pro Drops Night Mode Portrait.

Image: Nandaperin / Unsplash

Is your iPhone 17 Pro camera refusing to activate Night Mode when you switch to Portrait Mode? You are not alone, and your phone isn't broken. Apple has confirmed the removal of Night Mode from Portrait Mode for both the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max.

This is a major shift. Previously, starting from the iPhone 12 Pro, the Silicon Valley giant included this functionality, letting you easily capture stunning bokeh shots even in low light. But now, on the latest flagship, this feature is no more.

A special feature that gave you artifact-free pictures in Portrait Mode has been silently removed from the Cupertino company's newly launched iPhone 17 Pro series.

The official Apple support page for Night Mode on iPhone has now explicitly updated the "supported iPhone models" list for Night Mode photos with Portrait Mode. The list provided by Apple conspicuously lacks the newer iPhone 17 series. Although you are still able to take standard Night Mode photos in the regular Photo mode, the dedicated low-light portrait feature is gone.

Supported models for Night Mode Portraits now only include:

• iPhone 12 Pro and 12 Pro Max
• iPhone 13 Pro and 13 Pro Max
• iPhone 14 Pro and 14 Pro Max
• iPhone 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max
• iPhone 16 Pro and 16 Pro Max

Why Did Apple Remove Night Mode Portrait?

The biggest question in your mind is likely: Why? Although the company is silent about the removal, technical analysis points to a few likely culprits related to the new "Fusion" camera pipeline.

The iPhone 17 Pro introduces a new image processing architecture designed for extreme speed and high resolution (48MP). It is highly possible that the computational power required to process a long-exposure Night Mode shot simultaneously with a high-fidelity LiDAR depth map was either too processor-intensive or introduced too much shutter lag for Apple's strict standards.

Another possible reason for this removal might be depth map reliability. Night Mode requires multiple frames taken over several seconds to remove handshake blur. Aligning depth data (from the LiDAR scanner and multiple lenses) perfectly with these merged frames is incredibly difficult.

The "Edit Later" Workaround Doesn't Work

Now, the solution coming to your mind might be the "edit later" workaround—just take a regular Night Mode photo and add the blur later. Unfortunately, this won't solve the issue.

When you take a photo in standard Night Mode, the camera focuses entirely on gathering light rather than creating a complex depth map. Therefore, when you head to edit photos later, the Portrait (f-stop) depth control will be disabled.

What Are Your Options Now?

Since you can no longer have both (Bright Light + Bokeh) natively on the iPhone 17 Pro, the only option left for you is to choose which element matters more for your specific shot.

1. Prioritize Light (Standard Photo Mode)

If the lighting is very poor (e.g., a candlelit dinner or moonlight), stick to standard Photo Mode. This will initiate Night Mode automatically, providing you with a clean, bright, and noise-free image where the subject is in focus, rather than emphasizing background blur. You can try to achieve a blur effect using third-party apps like Lightroom to manually mask the subject and blur the background later, though it's more work.

2. Prioritize Blur (Manual Lighting)

But in case you prioritize the blurred background and must stick to Portrait Mode, you need to bring in light manually. Either use the flash or find an external light source. This brings more light to the camera sensor, allowing it to define the subject clearly enough to separate them from the background without relying on long-exposure software magic.

If you are in a dark bar and want a Portrait Mode shot, you are currently out of luck. You will need to switch to standard Photo mode to get the shot, or bring your own lighting.

Will It Come Back in iOS 26?

Apple might bring back Night Mode Portrait in an upcoming iOS update, likely iOS 26, or might need to wait for iOS 27, if they can solve the issue through software optimization. Since the limitation is probably linked to the new hardware architecture, it may not be fixed by the current software. Until then, you need to use the methods above to capture your low-light moments.

Image: Nandaperin on Unsplash