iPhone XS Owners Complain It Automatically Smoothes Their Skin

@Matt Birchler/Twitter

The latest iPhones only officially became available last week, but customers already have complaints about the devices. 

The iPhone XS and XS Max were released last Friday (September 21), with thousands of people waiting excitedly to get their hands on the latest bit of tech from Apple.

Unfortunately, it seems the new models aren’t ticking all the boxes, as buyers have reported some issues when it comes to taking selfies.

XS and XS Max owners have pointed out the front camera appears to automatically smooth their skin, making the photos appear edited.

Getty

The strange effects are disgruntling those who just want to show off their natural beauty.

It’s not yet been clarified what’s causing the smoothing effect, as the tech company didn’t include any kind of ‘beauty mode’ in the phone’s settings.

While no definitive cause has been identified, it’s possible the smoothing effects of the front camera could be caused by its new noise-reducing feature.

The feature removes visual distortion which appears in high-resolution photos by smoothing out certain elements.

Tech Youtuber, Lewis Hilsenteger, spoke about the issue, explaining how he noticed the strange effect after taking a selfie:

He said:

I felt that somehow the device was putting me in some kind of automatic beauty mode.

Some kind of smooth skin effect was happening.

At first I was like, let me get to the bottom of this. This is probably some kind of processing thing that I can turn off.

Lewis continued:

I can just dive into the menus, like on other phones that have beauty modes. Like on Samsung, or Huawei, and so on. Maybe I can just toggle that down to zero.

But of course there’s no mention of beauty mode because Apple never admitted to doing any kind of beauty mode.

Many iPhone XS and XS Max users took to social media to share their smoothed-out selfies, where the effect is clear:

Some people on Twitter shared their complaints about the strange feature, with one person writing:

Idk how I feel about this beauty mode selfies on the new iPhones. [sic]

While another added:

Anyone else not liking the front camera on the new iphone? It makes my skin too smooth i look fake af lmfao [sic]

The camera isn’t the only part of the new iPhones customers seem to be having trouble with.

Many customers have also taken to social media to complain about weak signal strength, affecting both the speed and connectivity of Wi-Fi and data signals.

Some buyers admitted their older iPhones had better signal strength than the new model and supposedly improved devices, while for others, the phones simply don’t meet expectations when it comes to signal strength.

According to a report by the wireless-technology blog WiWavelength, lab testing of the latest iPhones revealed their signal strength was significantly weaker than the iPhone 8 and iPhone X devices.

The issues seem to be occurring on a range of carriers, suggesting it’s the devices themselves which have problems.

One iPhone XS Max owner wrote on Twitter:

Anyone else notice low signal on the iPhone XS max?

To which another Twitter user responded:

Yes, much worse than my iPhone X!

Another contacted Apple Support explaining their Wi-Fi signal kept fluctuating:

so something i noticed today holding my phone from the top does this to my Wifi bar signal it makes it fluctuate IPHONE XS MAX no case on my phone and google On hub router it should not be happening to my $1200 device [sic]

A third Apple customer wrote:

Anyone else having less than great LTE performance on iPhone XS? My iPhone 7 held signal way better. [sic]

The complaints are surprising due to the fact the iPhone XS and XS Max have one more antenna than last year’s iPhone 8 and iPhone X, theoretically meaning the signal should be stronger.

It’s possible the issues could be solved with future system updates for the devices.

Apple appears to be aware of the issues, and has responded to some complaints on Twitter asking customers to message the company directly.

Hopefully the issues will be resolved before too long!

If you have a story you want to tell, send it to [email protected].

Emily Brown

Emily Brown first began delivering important news stories aged just 13, when she launched her career with a paper round. She graduated with a BA Hons in English Language in the Media from Lancaster University, and went on to become a freelance writer and blogger. Emily contributed to The Sunday Times Travel Magazine and Student Problems before becoming a journalist at UNILAD, where she works on breaking news as well as longer form features.