If you ride a motorcycle, don’t mount your iPhone to the handlebars unless you don’t mind blurry photos. That’s what Apple told motorcycle riders in a blog post on Friday.
“Exposing your iPhone to high amplitude vibrations within certain frequency ranges, specifically those generated by high-power motorcycle engines, can degrade the performance of the camera system,” wrote the tech company in a public statement.
The problem appears to stem from some of the advanced camera technology that helps make photos less blurry. Apple says that its cameras’ optical image stabilization (OIS) and close loop autofocus are the specific systems that can be degraded by a motorcycle engine’s rumble.
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The OIS, writes apple, is a little gyroscope in your phone’s camera that allows it to stabilize the lens even if you shake or move the camera as you’re taking a picture. The closed-loop autofocus, meanwhile, uses a board magnetic sensor to measure gravity and vibration effects and “determine the lens position so that the compensating motion can be set accurately.”
All of which is photographical witchcraft that allows you to take pictures that look sharp and in focus even if you don’t have a stand. Unfortunately, that witchcraft is no match for a mighty motorcycle.
“As is the case with many consumer electronics that include systems like OIS, long-term direct exposure to high-amplitude vibrations within certain frequency ranges may degrade the performance of these systems and lead to reduced image quality for photos and videos,” writes Apple. “It is recommended to avoid exposing your iPhone to extended high-amplitude vibrations.”
Even on smaller output two-wheeled vehicles, like mopeds and scooters, Apple recommends the use of a vibration dampening mount, lest you permanently shake the gyroscopes out of alignment.
