Apple cautions customers that exposing their iPhone to the vibrations of motorcycle engines can cause permanent damage to the device’s camera focus and image stabilization functions.
According to a new support document published by the company, “long-term direct exposure to high amplitude vibrations within certain frequency ranges can degrade the performance of these systems and reduce the image quality of photos and videos.”
The specific systems in question are the camera’s Optical Image Stabilization (OIS), which uses a gyroscope to reduce motion blur, even if your hands are shaky, and closed-loop autofocus (AF), which keeps your hands free. Sharp-looking images via magnetic sensors that measure vibration and gravity.
The document specifically identifies “high-powered motorcycle engines” as the main culprit and recommends that you never connect your iPhone to the chassis or handlebars of a motorcycle.
For quieter vehicles, such as mopeds and scooters, they suggest using a vibration damping mount to lower the risk.
While this formal warning from Apple is new, the problem appears to be long-standing.
The support document was published on September 10, 2021, but MacRumors He noted that Apple users have been discussing the issue in online forum posts dating back to 2019.
This is Apple’s second customer support issue in recent weeks.
On August 28, the tech giant announced that it was launching a new service program to fix broken headphones on its iPhone 12 and 12 Pro devices.
Source: MacRumors