Check out these settings
There are new items worth investigating in iPhone X’s
Settings app. In many cases, the default values are fine, but the items that control how your photos and videos are recorded and moved around are important to know about, and other behaviours may be worth tweaking.
Picture this
The rear camera is capable of recording 4K video at 60 frames per second (fps), yet the Camera app is set to record at a lower quality that’s less demanding on storage space by default. You can switch to recording 4K at 60fps in Settings > Camera > Record Video.
Also in the Camera app’s settings, tap Formats to choose whether photos and videos use the new HEIF and HEVC (High Efficiency) formats, or the more widely used JPEG and H.264 formats (Most Compatible). There’s an Apple Support article about differences and considerations at bit.ly/mfhigheff.
The high efficiency formats use a lot less space, which is great news if you take a lot of photos and videos – especially if you’ve bought a 64GB iPhone X, but you need to consider where else you might work with that media. When you share media captured in one of the new formats using AirDrop or in a message, or if you post it to a social network, iOS will convert it to ensure compatibility.
However, if you transfer media to your Mac then consider the version of macOS, the method used to transfer, and the Mac apps you’ll use to edit the media. iMovie 10.1.7 and Final Cut Pro X 10.4 support HEIF and HEVC, but you’ll need to check the release notes and maybe contact the developers of other video apps you depend upon.
The format of media transferred using a cable depends on the Transfer to Mac or PC item in Settings > Photos. If your Mac can handle HEIF and HEVC, choose Keep Originals. But, if you use iCloud Photo Library to send photos and videos to your Mac, media uploaded to it is always stored in its original format; if your Mac can’t handle HEIF but you want to use that format for its space-saving benefits on your iPhone, you can use a utility such as bit.ly/mfheifcnv to convert HEIF to JPEG on your Mac for editing and sharing from there, plus the original for archiving.
On display
In Settings > Display & Brightness are options to turn off Raise to Wake and True Tone. The latter adjusts the on-screen colours to match ambient light, and you may want to see the correct colours when editing a photo for Flickr, say. There’s a shortcut to this in Control Centre: press firmly on the brightness slider to reveal it.
Apple’s Leather Folio case provides another method for waking the display or putting it to sleep: simply opening or closing the cover. You may not want the screen to turn on every time you open the cover to retrieve a bank card or notes from its inside pockets, though. In that case, turn off Settings > Display & Brightness > Lock/Unlock.