Live Photos captures video before and after you press the shutter button
Live Photos is a feature on iPhones and iPads that records about 1.5 seconds of video — roughly a half-second before you tap the camera button and a second after. When you take a still photo, the device saves both the photo and that short video clip together. You can play the video by pressing and holding the photo on your screen.
Live Photos uses more storage than regular photos because each one includes video data. If you do not want this feature, or if you want to save space, you can turn it off in your camera settings. The process is the same whether you use an iPhone or iPad.
Key Takeaways
- Live Photos records video before and after you take a photo, using more storage space than a regular photo.
- You can turn off Live Photos in the Camera app by tapping the circular icon at the top of the screen that looks like concentric circles.
- Turning off Live Photos does not delete photos you already took with the feature — those remain on your device with their video clips intact.
- You can also disable Live Photos in Settings under Camera if you want to prevent the feature from turning back on by accident.
Disable Live Photos in the Camera app
The fastest way to turn off Live Photos is directly in the Camera app before you take a photo. Open the Camera app and look at the top of the screen. You will see a circular icon made of concentric rings — this is the Live Photos button. When the icon appears bright or highlighted, Live Photos is on. Tap it once to turn it off. The icon will become dimmed or grayed out, showing that Live Photos is now disabled.
After you tap the button, you can take photos normally. Any new photos you take will be regular still images without the video component. If you change your mind and want Live Photos back on, tap the same button again to re-enable it.
Turn off Live Photos permanently in Settings
If you prefer not to use Live Photos at all, you can disable it in your device settings so it stays off even if you forget to turn it off in the Camera app. Open the Settings app and scroll down to find Camera. Tap Camera, then look for the Live Photos toggle switch. Tap the switch to turn it off. The switch will no longer show green or blue, indicating the feature is disabled.
With Live Photos disabled in Settings, the concentric circles icon will no longer appear in your Camera app at all. This is the most reliable way to may support Live Photos never turns back on accidentally.
What happens to photos you already took with Live Photos
Turning off Live Photos does not affect any photos you already took with the feature enabled. Those photos will remain on your device with their video clips attached. You can still press and hold those photos to play the video portion if you want to.
If you want to remove the video from an existing Live Photo and keep only the still image, open the photo in your Photos app, tap Edit, then tap the Live Photos button at the top of the editing screen. Tap Turn Off to remove the video. The photo will become a regular still image, and the video data will be deleted.
How much storage Live Photos actually uses
A single Live Photo typically takes up two to three times the storage space of a regular photo, depending on the resolution and lighting conditions. If you take many photos, this adds up quickly. Turning off Live Photos can noticeably extend how long your device can hold photos before you need to delete old ones or buy more storage.
If you are running low on storage space, disabling Live Photos is one of the easiest ways to slow down how fast your device fills up. You can also go back through your existing Live Photos and convert the ones you want to keep into regular photos using the Edit method described above.
Live Photos and third-party apps
Some third-party camera apps and photo editing apps can read and use Live Photos, but most cannot. If you use apps like Snapchat, Instagram, or other social media platforms, they typically ignore the video portion and save only the still image when you upload a Live Photo. The video data stays on your device but does not transfer to the app.
If you plan to share photos through apps that do not support Live Photos, turning off the feature saves you the storage space since the video portion will not be used anyway.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I turn off Live Photos for just the front-facing camera?
No. When you disable Live Photos in Settings or in the Camera app, it turns off for both the front and rear cameras. You cannot disable it for one camera and keep it on for the other. However, you can turn it on or off in the Camera app each time you switch cameras if you want to use it selectively.
Does disabling Live Photos affect video recording?
No. Turning off Live Photos does not change your ability to record videos. Video recording is a separate feature that works independently. You can still record full-length videos even when Live Photos is disabled.
What if Live Photos keeps turning back on?
If you disabled it in the Camera app but it keeps turning back on, disable it in Settings instead. Go to Settings > Camera and toggle off Live Photos there. This prevents the feature from re-enabling automatically.
Can I recover the video from a Live Photo after I turn it off?
Once you convert a Live Photo to a regular photo by tapping the Live Photos button in Edit mode, the video data is permanently deleted. You cannot recover it afterward. If you think you might want the video later, keep the Live Photo as is instead of converting it.