Apple devices such as iPad, iPhone and AirPods have saved the commitments of many users today, being the preferred means of working from home, communicating, or as we have recently seen, recording episodes of television programs in quarantine. However, for a group of young students these devices have become a headache.
In the past few days, several students have concurred in complaints that they are failing college entrance exams because the iPhone’s HEIC photo format is not supported, forcing them to repeat them more than once.
Some students have failed their exams because of the iPhone
According to information released by The Verge, Nick Bryner, a high school student in California, had chosen to take a photo of his handwritten response and upload it to the College Board website, the administrator of the college admissions test.
Unfortunately for him and thousands of other students, once the test timer reached zero, the students automatically failed and were told they could retake the test in three weeks. Days later they discovered that the problem arises when loading an image that has been captured in HEIC.
The HEIC format or “high-efficiency image format” according to its figures in English corresponds to the standard image format introduced by Apple along with its 2017 update from iOS 10 to iOS 11. The downside is that HEIC photos are not widely compatible with many sites that only support JPG, JPEG and PNG.
Now, the College Board is now working with students to help them submit their responses without fail automatically. They have opened additional support for those having trouble uploading their answers. They also note that less than one percent of students have had this particular problem.
How to change the HEIC format of the iPhone to a more compatible one?
To avoid a similar situation, users with iPhone or iPad from 2017 onwards can change the default format of photos with the following steps:
- Open Settings app
- Scroll down and tap Camera
- Choose Tap Formats
- Tap “Most Compatible” . The most compatible setting tells your iPhone to use a JPEG setting, rather than the default HEIC.