Apple has clarified that its new texture and grain controls for photo editing will be significantly more restricted than initially suggested by confusingly worded press releases. The feature, announced with the iPhone 18 and 18 Pro, sparked confusion when Apple's statements implied it would be available on older models like the iPhone 16 and iPhone Air, leading users to believe they would have full access to these editing tools on their devices.

In reality, the texture and grain controls will only function when editing photographs originally captured on iPhone 18 Pro models or specific cameras on the iPhone Duo. Older iPhone models cannot apply these stylisation adjustments to photos they have taken themselves. Apple has since updated its press releases to reflect this limitation, though an earlier version containing a misleading footnote listing compatibility across numerous iPhone models remains archived online. The Verge confirmed this restricted functionality by testing the feature, finding that the controls were available when editing sample photos from an iPhone 18 Pro but not when editing their own iPhone 16 Pro photographs.