After all these years, I’ve just found out what that black circle by the iPhone camera is

We all have our iPhones glued to us every second of the day, but somehow, I’ve never noticed that huge black circle next to the iPhone camera. Maybe I have subconsciously seen it before, but I’ve never bothered to find out what it actually is… until today.

A tweet has gone viral that has the black circle next to the iPhone camera circled and says: “Hey @grok. What’s the use of this in an iPhone… Any idea?” Now everyone is realising that they too had no idea what its purpose is.

So, what is it? Well, that black circle is actually called a LiDAR scanner, which stands for Light Detection and Ranging. It’s only on Apple’s Pro and Pro Max models, and fires out infrared lasers of light to build a 3D picture of its surroundings.

Hey @grok What's the use of this in an iPhone.. Any idea.? pic.twitter.com/ktmDdl16lC

— Mr Singh (@Mrsingh8888) May 17, 2026

This is needed for loads of different camera features, including portrait mode, night mode and faster autofocus. But it’s not just for taking pictures. The LiDAR scanner is also needed for the Measure app, where your iPhone can be used as a tape measure, automatically calculating things like someone’s height or the dimensions of a room.

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Plus, it’s used for augmented reality. You know when you’re buying a piece of furniture and the website lets you see what it would look like in your room, that’s the LiDAR scanner.

Grok created a nice little summary: “That’s the LiDAR scanner on your iPhone (Pro models). It fires invisible laser pulses to accurately measure distances and create depth maps. Main uses – Precise AR experiences (like the Measure app) – Better autofocus and edge detection in Portrait mode – Improved low-light photos and Night mode portraits Super handy for 3D scanning and augmented reality stuff.”

So, that little black dot is actually a very snazzy piece of tech. Who knew!

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Featured image credit: Twitter