The name is more so meant to evoke a photo that’s alive, rather than something that’s happening live. Instead, they’re more like miniature animations that only show one frame (a photo) but can play like an animation if you long press on them (an animation). That short recording contains both video and audio, which together comprise a Live Photo. Despite what the name implies, Live Photos aren’t happening in real-time and they aren’t exactly photos, either. Rather than taking a snapshot, Live Photos takes a 1.5-second video and audio recording, making Live Photos more like a video than like still photos. Ignoring the contradiction of terms, Live Photos is a very neat feature added to the iPhone 6 and later models. Once there, you’ll see options to mute the audio of your Live Photo, change the Key Photo, and even disable its Live Photo features (it will still be a Live Photo file, but it won’t play or appear as a Live Photo in the Photos app). To view these options, tap Edit on the top right of your photo and tap the bullseye at the bottom left of the Edit screen. There’s also an extra section in the Edit screen for Live Photos. For example, if you swipe up on the photo, you’ll get options to play the photo as an animated Loop, Bounce (a.k.a. You can edit it as well with all of the same options you have for editing a regular photo, as well as some additional options. To view your Live Photo as an animation, just long-press it and the video/animation will instantly start playing. The only thing that will set it apart is that you’ll see the Live Photos (bullseye) symbol at the top left of the image (this symbol isn’t actually on your photo, it’s just a display element. Just open the Photos app and you’ll find your Live Photos with the rest of your pictures. You can view Live Photos as standard photos, the same way that you view the rest of your photos. Otherwise, it’s better to only enable Live Photos when you are specifically trying to take one. mov file and a 2-5MB JPEG, so they will quickly use up the storage on your phone.įor this reason, it is recommended that you only leave Live Photos enabled by default if you have lots of storage or use iCloud storage for your photos. A single Live Photo is comprised of a 3-4MB.

As the main camera is 12 megapixels and the Live Photo is 1.5 seconds long, taking too many shots will soon make you run out of space. Live Photos can be taken with both the front and rear cameras. Remember that it records audio as well as images, so be aware of ambient noise and what’s going on around you. Framing the shot in advance is another way to ensure you’re taking great Live Photos.

You need to treat Live Photos as video shots and try to keep the device as still as possible. The camera will then take its 1.5-second Live Photo.

Press the shutter once, keeping your phone steady on the subject for at least 1.5 seconds.

Frame your shot as you normally would, holding the device still.

Turn on the Live Photos setting by tapping the bullseye icon at the top of the screen.

Photos turn on live photo for mac