Live Photos is a signature feature of the iPhone camera that captures 1.5 seconds of video and audio before and after you press the shutter button. While this is fantastic for capturing action shots, sports, or candid family moments, it can also be incredibly frustrating. Live Photos consume significantly more storage space than standard still images, and they are notoriously difficult to edit or share with non-Apple devices.
If you prefer a traditional photography experience, you can easily turn off Live Photos. However, Apple’s default camera settings will automatically turn the feature back on the next time you open the Camera app unless you explicitly lock your preferences.
How to Turn Off Live Photos Temporarily
If you just want to take a single standard photograph without the accompanying video clip, you can toggle the feature off directly from the Camera app’s main screen.
- Open the Camera app on your iPhone.
- Look at the top right corner of the screen. You will see an icon composed of three concentric circles (the Live Photo icon).
- If the icon is yellow, Live Photos is currently active.
- Tap the concentric circles icon once.
- A slash will appear through the icon, and a brief “Live Off” message will flash at the top of your screen.
You can now take a normal, still photograph. However, if you close the Camera app and open it again later, Live Photos will automatically turn back on. To prevent this, you must adjust your system settings.
How to Turn Off Live Photos Permanently
To stop your iPhone from automatically reverting to the Live Photo setting every time you launch the camera, you need to use the “Preserve Settings” feature.
- Open the Settings app on your iPhone.
- Scroll down the list and tap on Camera.
- Tap on Preserve Settings.
- Look for the toggle labelled Live Photo.
- Turn this toggle On (the switch will turn green).
This setting is often misunderstood. Turning this toggle “On” does not turn on Live Photos. Instead, it tells your iPhone to “preserve” whatever choice you made the last time you used the camera.
Now, open your Camera app one last time and tap the Live Photo icon to turn it off (so the slash appears). Because you enabled “Preserve Settings,” your iPhone will remember this choice forever. Live Photos will remain off until you manually decide to turn them back on.
How to Remove the “Live” Effect from an Existing Photo
If you have already taken a brilliant photograph but you are annoyed by the blurry video movement, you do not need to delete it. You can retroactively turn a Live Photo into a standard still image.
- Open the Photos app and select the Live Photo you want to change.
- Tap Edit in the top right corner of the screen.
- At the bottom of the editing screen, tap the Live Photo icon (the concentric circles).
- At the top center of the screen, tap the yellow LIVE button.
- The button will turn grey, indicating the video portion has been disabled.
- Tap Done in the bottom right corner.
The image is now a standard still photograph. This will also slightly reduce the file size, saving you a small amount of iCloud storage space.