Magnifying Mirror on iPhone [With Light, for Makeup]

Three ways to get a magnifying mirror on iPhone

• The Camera app, front camera. Always there, but zoom on the front camera is limited and there is no light except the flash when you take a photo.
• Apple’s Magnifier app. It can switch to the front camera. If you do not see the switch button, add it in Magnifier’s settings. It gives more zoom than the Camera app but no screen light.
• A magnifier app with a screen light. LoupeLens has a front camera mode where the screen turns white around the image and lights your face, with the same zoom and capture controls as the rear camera.

Whichever you use, put it one tap away: add Magnifier to Control Center, or keep LoupeLens on your dock, so the mirror is ready when you are standing at the sink.

How much zoom to use

Task	Zoom	Light
Foundation, concealer, blending	1x to 2x	Soft, even, from the front
Eyeliner and mascara	2x to 3x	Front, slightly above eye level
Eyebrows and stray hairs	3x to 5x	Bright, slightly to the side
Ingrown hairs, blackheads, small spots	4x to 6x	Bright, from the side to show texture
Contact lenses: checking for tears or debris	3x to 5x on the lens on your fingertip	Rear camera with flashlight works better

A traditional magnifying mirror is usually 5x, 7x or 10x. On a phone screen you rarely need that much, because the screen is already larger than the area you are looking at.

Lighting your face without a flashlight

A bathroom at 7am is often dim, and a dim front camera picture is grainy and hard to judge. In order of what helps most:

1. Face the light source. Stand facing a window or the bathroom light, never with it behind you.
2. Turn up the screen brightness. A bright white screen is a surprisingly good soft light at 25 to 30 cm.
3. Use a screen light mode. In LoupeLens, switching to the front camera turns the screen into a light around the live image, so you get magnification and light from the same device.
4. Add side light for texture. For brows and skin, a lamp slightly to one side shows individual hairs and raised spots that flat light hides.

Plucking eyebrows with your phone

This is one of the most common reasons people look for a magnifying mirror on their phone, and it works well with a little setup:

1. Prop the phone against the mirror or a cup at eye level, front camera on, about 25 cm away.
2. Zoom to 3x to 4x so one brow fills most of the screen.
3. Turn on the screen light or face a window.
4. Pluck in the direction of growth, checking the screen between hairs.
5. Zoom back to 1x now and then to check the overall shape. Over-plucking usually happens when you only look at the magnified view.

Other things a phone mirror is good for

• Checking teeth and gums after flossing or before a dentist visit.
• Something in your eye: look at the white of the eye and the lower lid. If something is stuck on the eye itself, rinse with clean water and see a professional rather than reaching in.
• Skin changes on your face, photographed in the same light each time so you can compare. The skincare under the lens article covers a repeatable photo routine, and the skin self-exam guide covers moles.
• The back of your hand or a fingertip: switch to the rear camera for splinters, where the flashlight helps more than the screen light.

Phone mirror or a lighted magnifying mirror

A dedicated lighted mirror on a stand is still the better choice for a daily makeup routine at the same table: it is always set up, shows both eyes at once and leaves the phone free. The phone wins when you are traveling, in a hotel bathroom with poor light, or need a closer look than your mirror gives. It also takes a photo, which a mirror cannot.

This article is general information, not medical advice. See a doctor or optician about anything in your eye, a changing mole, or skin that is painful or inflamed.