Can you make your iPhone camera NOT flip?

September 27, 2019

Portrait of a cheerful girl taking a selfie. - iPhone camera flipping — Are you a big fan of taking selfies too?

At one point or another, the iPhone camera flipping your selfies can be unpleasant at times. I mean, everything looks amazing. The lighting from your ring light is just bright enough, but just before you take the picture but the outcome somehow shows a different story—it’s like an altered version.

Everyone loves to take pictures of themselves. When looking good, you take a picture. When you are somewhere scenic, you take a picture. Basically, you take pictures everywhere! But have you ever noticed how your iPhone flips the image that you take? Perhaps, yes.

A lot of people prefer the unflipped rather than the flipped version but that’s how Apple wants it. Your only choice is to deal with it or find a solution to your iPhone camera flipping.

This article talks about the issues of the iPhone camera flipping images. It also contains ways on how you can reverse your photo into its original look.

Table of Contents

Why does the iPhone camera flip pictures?

Young pretty women posing in the street with phone. - iPhone camera flipping — Using an iPhone to take selfies usually, project a mirrored image.

Using your iPhone’s front camera shows you a mirror image. This feature’s design is based on the fact that you are used to seeing yourself in the mirror, thus the camera is exactly designed that way. This is called mirroring.

However, once you captured your image, your photo will be unflipped before you save it to the Camera Roll. This means that your photo saved in the Camera Roll will show your exact look while taking the photo and not what the Camera App has displayed.

What is mirroring?

Woman taking a selfie on the mirror. iPhone camera flipping — When taking pictures using an iPhone, it shows a mirrored image.

Mirroring is when your camera flips the images you took vertically or horizontally. This is a basic editing trick that makes a text in a mirror more readable once it shows in the photo. It can also upgrade the overall quality of an image or to meet the demands of the project.

A clear example of the application of mirroring is when you need an image of you that is looking to the left but in all your photos that you, you are looking to the right. Mirroring your image will give you the image that you need without taking another photo of yourself.

How To Stop iPhone Front Camera From Flipping Selfies?

Generally, you can’t directly unflip your front camera but you can revert your flipped image. You don’t always need to adjust how you are holding your selfie stick before you take a photo. Here are three of the easiest ways to do it.

1. Cut Paste Photos Pro

To quickly flip a photo, use a practical app like Cut Paste Photos Pro. You can also rotate, resize, and cut a photo into any shape. If you want to cut a subject out of its background, you can also do that on Cut Paste with just your finger or the eraser tool. No need to open Photoshop or use a mouse. Just perform quick, basic edits without any hassle on Cut Paste.

If you’re an iOS device user, you can download Cut Paste Photos Pro from the App Store. Meanwhile, if you’re an Android device user, we suggest you use zShot. Download Cut Paste Photos Pro now!

2. Photoshop Express

Photoshop Express is a photo processing software that can flip images taken on an iPhone.

You can download Photoshop Express on App Store for free. This app offers a wide selection of photo editing tools that you can use to your advantage. Follow these steps when trying to flip or mirror your iPhone selfie.

Open the Photoshop Express App. By default, the app will open in the All Photos view for you to see all the images you have in your Gallery. If you prefer to see another view, all you have to do is to click the arrow next to All Photos and choose other photo sources.
At the top of the screen is the Edit option. Click it then choose the image that you wish to edit in order to open it.
Tap on the crop icon located at the bottom part of the screen.
Click the Rotate button under the image.
Choose Flip Horizontal if you want to flip your image horizontally and choose Flip Vertical if you want to flip your image vertically.
Click the Share option or icon that looks like a box with an arrow that is pointing upward. You can find it at the top of the screen.
To save the flipped image into your Camera Roll, tap the Camera Roll option. You can scroll down if you want other options besides saving it to your Camera Roll.

Read: How to take hands-free selfies on iPhone camera

3. Photo Flipper

Flat illustration of flip photo vector icon. — Flipping an image is one of the solutions for a mirrored image taken on an iPhone.

Basically, Photo Flipper is mainly used for mirroring images only unlike Photoshop Express, which allows you to edit your photos by adding filters and all. Here is how you can use the Photoshop Flipper:

Launch the app and select the Photos icon that you can see at the lower-left corner of the screen. You can also take a picture directly from the app by tapping the Camera icon which is still located at the lower-left corner.
Choose the folder and then the image or images that contain the images that you wish to flip, so it can open in the app.
Once the image has completely loaded on the app, you can simply swipe the image vertically or horizontally to mirror it accordingly.
Select the Share icon at the lower right corner of the screen.
Choose Save Image to save a copy of your mirrored image on your Gallery.

4. Photo Mirror Effects Camera

Multiplying effect between two mirror surfaces — Photo Mirror Effects Camera is a powerful tool that can be used to reflect images taken with the iPhone.

This free-to-download app on the App Store allows you to create reflection or mirror effects on your images. Here are the steps on how you can use it.

Launch the Photo Mirror Effects Camera app on your iPhone.
Click on the plus sign for you to be redirected to your Photos app images. Alternatively, you can take a new photo using the built-in camera that comes with the app, which is located at the top right corner of the screen.
Choose and tap your desired image for it to open on the Photo Mirror Effects Camera app.
Click the Effect option located at the bottom of the screen.
Then, click the back to back triangles at the bottom part of the screen if you wish to horizontally flip the image.
Click the Share icon located at the top part of the screen.
To save your mirrored image, click on the down arrow icon.

Read: The Best iPhone Camera Settings for Selfies (And Why)

How to Flip Your Pictures in the iOS 13

Iphone 11 pro with the new Apple IOS 13 system. — iPhone 11 Pro with the new Apple IOS 13 system.

Flipping photos in the older iOS versions are not allowed unless you use a third-party app. Thankfully, they recently launched iOS 13, which already supports flipping images directly in the Photos app. That means you can already create mirror images without downloading other apps first. Here’s how you can flip your images directly on the Photos App:

Launch your Photos app.
Choose the image that you want to flip.
Tap the Edit option at the top right corner of the screen.
Select the Crop Icon on the edit screen.
Tap the Flip Tool Button located at the top left corner of the screen in order to slip your image horizontally. Save your image.

Before, directly flipping your selfies from your Photos app is impossible, but iOS 13 has made it possible. Thankfully, you can already have the image that you want without installing any third-party app. But before upgrading your iOS, make sure that it is compatible with your device to avoid any complication.

Wrapping It Up

Selfies have become a part of our everyday lives. A lot of us have made it an everyday routine to take photos whenever we feel like doing so. Well, nothing is wrong with it, as long as we know our responsibilities and limitations. Besides, it helps us to be more creative and it allows us to explore all the possibilities that iPhone cameras have to offer.