How to Take Photos While Recording Video on an iPhone

This article explains how to take a still photo while recording a video with your iPhone. Instructions cover the iPhone 5 and newer models as well as the 4th generation iPad and newer.

How to Take Photos While Recording Video on an iPhone

If you have one of the compatible iOS devices, here's how to snap a photo while taking a video:

1. Tap the Camera app to open it.

2. Swipe the menu at the bottom of the screen until Video is chosen (it will be centered above the large circular red button).

3. Tap the red button to begin recording a video.

4. When the video starts recording, a circular white button appears in the corner of the screen. Whether it's at the top or bottom depends on how you hold the device. Tap the white button to take a photo of what's on the screen without interrupting the video.

All still photos you take while recording a video are saved to the Photos app, just like any other photo.

The One Drawback: Photo Resolution

There's one important thing to know about the photos you take while recording video on an iPhone: They're not the same resolution as photos you take when you're not also recording video.

The standard photo taken with the back camera on an iPhone 8's 12-megapixel camera is 4032 x 3024 pixels. The resolution of the photos taken while the phone is recording video is lower and depends on the resolution of the video. Photos taken during 4K video recording are higher resolution than those from 1080p videos, but both are lower than the standard photo resolution.

Here's how the resolution breaks down for recent models:

The loss of resolution is greater when you record in slow motion. Still, the photo resolution you do get is more than enough for many people's uses. Plus, losing some resolution is a decent trade-off for being able to capture both the photo and video at the same time.