P: Photos Washed Out with New iPhone

[kindra_0420]

I'm feeling discouraged, as purchasing a new phone is a big expense, and now I have a problem I can't fix (yes I've called Adobe). With photos taken with my new iPhone 16, after automatically importing in the Lightroom app, when clicked on, the photo changes without being prompted to do so. A twirling icon pops up and voilà the image becomes washed out, and ruined. When I look at the image in my iPhone library it's fine. I've tried everything.....called adobe, painstainingly combed through settings...even went to AT&T just in case they could help me. The problem is we PAY for Lightroom and Adobe customer service is not helping. 

[Arlo.the.retriever]

I just recently got the iPhone 16 pro. When I take photos on my iPhone and go into the Lightroom app, once I select on a photo, it automatically changes the quality and color of photo. How do I fix this? 

[Julien23866590xre9]

I have the same issue and Adobe doesn't want to deal with it 🤬

[Sameer K]

Hey, @Arlo.the.retriever & @Julien23866590xre9. Welcome to the Lightroom Community. I'll help you figure this out. 

Does this happen with images shot as HDR from the iPhone Camera? Does this happen with specific images shot recently?

As a test, instead of opening the images from the Device tab in Lightroom, go to the Lightroom tab & import a few images before heading to edit them in loupe view.

Let me know how it goes. Thanks! 

Sameer K

(Use '@mention' to tag me when you reply)

[jacquelyn_0446]

@Sameer K hello,

HDR is turned OFF. This happens when RawMAX pro feature is turned ON. I have turned it off, that way I can use Lightroom. However, RawMax Pro feature makes the photos look better in the camera roll, which is why this is a bummer. 

[Julien23866590xre9]

As far as I'm concerned, this happens with ALL image formats and under all conditions.
I had the iPhone 15 Pro before and only had this problem with Raw files.
I have colleagues and friends who also have an iPhone 16 Pro with the same problem.
Important clarification: when you want to edit a photo from the iOS library and share it with Lightroom, there's no problem. This only happens via library management IN Lightroom.

Translated with DeepL.com (free version)

[Julien23866590xre9]

Hello,

Some news? Because we pay a subscription for Adobe's services.
If you don't have the capabilities to solve this type of problem, why continue to use your services?

[Julien23866590xre9]

I've found the problem: the HEIC is not managed by Lightroom's library.
No problem for photos taken in JPG format.
But as I said earlier, if you share the photo (in HEIC) from the iOS library on Lightroom, no problem.

[Arlo.the.retriever]

How do I change that?

[Julien23866590xre9]

In camera setting.

In "Formats" choose "Most compatible".
But Heic format is better thant JPEC. So it's a shame. And I'm not paying Adobe not to be able to use all the features.

[Charlie.D]

We only just released a new version of the app 10.0 that has support for the new iPhone 16.  Can you try updating the app, and then import a new photo and see if the issue persists?

[kindra_0420]

Hi there. I had hope updating the app would resolve the issue, but it is still happening. Just tried again now. 

[Charlie.D]

I don't understand what you are experiencing.  Could you share a screen recording of what you're seeing?  Plus, any additional steps or details you can share about how you are importing the image, what part of the app is showing the swirl, etc?  Is this in the Device tab or in the Lightroom tab?  Are you importing a DNG, a JPG, or a HEIC?  

In the LR App Settings > Import, under Raw Default Settings, is "Adobe Default" specified?

[Douglas291457447gwc]

I too am facing this problem. However the washed out photos are happening on images that I have edited on the computer.  When I veiw the images on the mobile app (v10.0) they are slightly overexposed and have less contrast. I have exported these photos and sent them to my computer to check that its not due to a difference in screen calibration and it is not as they are still showing washed out.

I completely agree with you last comment about adobe. I have had issues with adobe for months which their team has been unable to resolve.

[Charlie.D]

@Douglas291457447gwc I cannot reproduce such trouble.  Are you updated to the latest apps for both mobile and desktop?  LR Mobile 10.0 is pretty recent but what about LR on your computer?

Sharing a screen recording showing us what you see may help. Please show image info, or edit settings if possible.

Also sharing more info about the images, what camera they came from etc may help.  

Did you enabled HDR for these images?  What model exactly is your mobile device?

[oskar_8805]

Hi, I'm facing the same issue. Only since switching to my new iPhone 16 Pro Max. Posting a screen recording here of what happens. Any help?😅

[oskar_8805]

I should also add, that when I import photos that were taken by someone else on an earlier iPhone model, this doesn't happen, so it seems to be a compatibility issue between the new model's camera and LR.

[Charlie.D]

Hello @oskar_8805 

Thanks for attaching a screen recording--very helpful!

We recently released support for the new iPhone 16 devices with the recent v10.0 app update.  Are you updated to the latest version of the app?  Please open the LR Mobile iPhone app listing to see if an update is available.

Next, if you open that photo again, and then open Edit and scroll to the right to select Profiles, what Profile is applied to your iPhone 16 photos?

In the LR Mobile app Settings > Import, what is selected under Raw Default Settings?  (Adobe Default is the default and should work fine.  I just want to make sure you don't have some other custom profile applied that doesn't work well for iPhone.

[defaultn5xzxvoo3hjs]

Hi, thanks you for the response. I'm writing from a different account here. 

Attaching screenshots of all the requested info. Everything should be in order so I don't think that should be the issue. The selected profile is "color" as is the case for all my previous pre-16 photos. I just tried importing some new photos and the same thing is still happening.  

[ssarahphoto]

This is happening to me to with my iphone 16 pro and I'm about ready to SCREAM!!! It's destroying all of my photos!!! Surly adobe and Apple will fix this!??? I don't know what to do! 

[oskar_8805]

Hi, any further comments or updates on this?

[Charlie.D]

I am converting this post to a bug and setting to "Acknowledged" to reflect that the team is investigating

[hugo_3335]

Taking photos on ios18 iphone 16 pro in raw format, but everytime I try to open one of these photos in lightroom mobile it appears as expected and then after a second there's a strange filter applied automatically. It ruins the quality of the photo. How do you stop this from happening so I can edit the file as intended?

thanks!!

[Charlie.D]

An update: we have communicated this issue to Apple, and a fix should come from a future iOS 18.x update.  We don't have a specific date or iOS version from Apple to share.

In the meantime, the LR iOS mid-December release will correct the appearance of any affected image.  Our developers found a way to work around the issue of iPhone 16 images having the wrong gamma curve and will apply a fix when reading them into Lightroom/ACR to use the gamma curve that Apple is actually using to render them.  Apple will still fix the issue cause in a future OS release, and we don't know exactly when, but at that point the workaround here won't be applied anymore due to the fixed content of the file from the camera app.  Our workaround will remain in place for previously-captured iPhone 16 photos.

[Rick.Williams]

Honestly, based on what I see here, there is no real bug. RAW photos typically have a jpeg embedded in them. ProRaw is no different. What you see in Apple Photos when you look at a ProRaw is that embedded JPEG, until you edit it. This looks like Lightroom is showing that until it fully loads the RAW. 

As a test, go into Apple Photos on MacOS, select RAW from the media types listing on the left so you only see your ProRaw files. Go into edit mode. Use the arrow keys to switch back and forth between photos. You will be able to see it load the JPEG preview then switch to the Raw file. Sometimes its subtle sometimes its more obvious. 

The difference is how Adobe and Apple process those raw files. Personally I just setup a preset that sets the profile to Apple ProRaw, auto tones the image, puts texture at 20, and sharpness at 60. That gives me a good starting point. Then in settings I have it set to auto apply that preset to Raw files, since the vast majority of Raw files I take are from the iPhone these days.

The main thing to remember is that when you are looking at a ProRaw file in Apple Photos you are very rarely actually looking at the RAW. You are viewing a JPEG preview of an auto processed RAW. I hope that makes sense.

[luis_4754]

Hey Charlie, Thanks for all the help but this is also a problem for my iPhone 13 Pro Max and my IPhone 16 pro max are having the exact same issue washing out the photos when uploaded. Maybe it's all Pro Max iPhones dealing with this? Maybe just a problem with the app in terral and has nothing to do with just the iPhone 16...