When people say “0.5 selfie” they usually mean that stretched, everything-in-frame look you get from the rear Ultra Wide camera, the one labelled 0.5x in the Camera app. It’s become a style of its own: close to the lens, slightly distorted, lots of background.
Option 1: use the rear Ultra Wide (the real 0.5x)
Switch to the back camera, tap 0.5x, and hold the phone at arm’s length, slightly above you. You can’t see the screen, so use the self-timer, or a camera remote such as an Apple Watch if you have one. Take a few shots and pick the best; it’s normal to need several tries.
Option 2: widen the front camera
On iPhone 11 and later, the front camera in Apple’s Camera app has a button (two small arrows) that widens the view, and it widens on its own when you turn the phone sideways. It’s not as wide as 0.5x on the back, but you can see yourself while you shoot.
Option 3: an iPhone 17 model
Apple says the iPhone 17 models have a square front sensor with a wider field of view, and can shoot landscape selfies while you hold the phone upright. If you have one, it’s the easiest way to fit a group into a front-camera shot.
Option 4: a camera app built for wide selfies
Some apps go after the widest front view a phone offers. Music Wide Selfie is one in development: it uses the widest front format your iPhone really reports, and only shows the option on phones that have it, with your music still playing.
Make it look good
- Keep faces away from the very edges, where wide lenses stretch things.
- Hold the phone a little above eye level.
- Use good light; small sensors get noisy in the dark.