I’m not at the house right now, but my phone camera also sees the IR LEDs on my game camera, on my security cameras, and more.
I also have a filter that looks black to the naked eye that only lets IR through (it’s used on my underwater camera strobes for my mirrorless cameras that do have minus-IR filters for triggering remote strobes), and my phone can see light coming through it that my eyes cannot.
What has changed on phone cameras is the crystal lenses let less of the IR that triggered the green sensors, so it tends to have more of a magenta hue these days where it used to look white on older cameras.
It’s also why some outdoor RAW shots on modern phones have a purple-ish tint - especiallyif there’sa lens flare from the sun. They’re picking up extra IR light on the red and blue sensors, but not the green.
I took this picture of my office’s TV remote with my Samsung phone just now. You can see the IR just fine.
Your phone camera is seeing the overspill in other frequencies of light the LED is producing. Many remotes have an filter to hide those frequecies.
I’m not at the house right now, but my phone camera also sees the IR LEDs on my game camera, on my security cameras, and more.
I also have a filter that looks black to the naked eye that only lets IR through (it’s used on my underwater camera strobes for my mirrorless cameras that do have minus-IR filters for triggering remote strobes), and my phone can see light coming through it that my eyes cannot.
What has changed on phone cameras is the crystal lenses let less of the IR that triggered the green sensors, so it tends to have more of a magenta hue these days where it used to look white on older cameras.
It’s also why some outdoor RAW shots on modern phones have a purple-ish tint - especiallyif there’sa lens flare from the sun. They’re picking up extra IR light on the red and blue sensors, but not the green.