One of the iPhone’s best camera features has suffered an unfortunate setback. Since the introduction of iOS 16, Cinematic mode video is no-longer compatible with key video editing applications including iMovie and Final Cut Pro. Currently, there’s no workaround available.
iOS 16 causes a show-stopping problem for many video creators.
Introduced with the iPhone 13, Cinematic mode allows you to shoot video with a shallow depth of field and movie-like control over focus. However, for many users it’s no-longer possible to edit these videos on a Mac.
According to posts on Apple’s official support forum, as well as multiple threads on Reddit, videos shot on iPhones running iOS16 cannot be edited with Cinematic mode features enabled. Attempting to do so in Final Cut Pro, for example, results in the error message “The Cinematic effect can’t be enabled.”
Attempting to edit a Cinematic mode video file on macOS results in an error.
The issue appears to be limited to iOS16, so if Cinematic mode video forms an important part of your workflow and you haven’t upgraded yet, you may wish to hold off until Apple releases a fix. At least one user has successfully downgraded from iOS 16 to iOS 15.7 and restored functionality. Unfortunately, this won’t help iPhone 14 owners who will have been running the new iOS release since purchase.
According to current information, Updating Final Cut Pro or iMovie doesn’t solve the problem, and neither does updating to the current macOS Ventura beta. For now, all you can do is wait — Apple is aware of the problem, and the solution will have to come in the form of an official update. Let’s just hope that an upgrade to the release version of macOS Ventura won’t be required to fix this issue, as this could leave owners of older Macs locked out permanently.
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