Who Can Use Them?
Live Photos were introduced in Sept. 2015 along with the iPhone 6S series. Live Photos were one of the flagship features for the 6S since they use the 3D Touchscreen which was also introduced on those devices. Since then, the list of devices that can support Live Photos has expanded significantly and is no longer limited to devices with 3D Touch screens (which is good: Apple discontinued that technology). To use Live Photos, you need:
iPhone 6S or newer (including the iPhone X, XS and XR, 11 series, and 12 series), or iPhone SE. 5th generation iPad or newer. 3rd generation iPad Air or newer. 5th generation iPad mini or newer. iPad Pro models from 2016 and newer. iOS 9 or higher.
How Do Live Photos Work?
Live Photos work using a background feature that many iPhone users aren’t aware of. When you open the iPhone’s Camera app, the app automatically begins taking pictures even if you don’t tap the shutter button. This allows the phone to capture photos as quickly as possible. Those photos are automatically deleted if they’re not needed without the user ever being aware of them. When you take a Live Photo, instead of just capturing the photo, the iPhone captures the photo and retains the photos it’s been taking in the background. It then saves photos from before and after you take the photo. By doing this, it’s able to stitch all of these photos together into a smooth animation that lasts around 1.5 seconds—that’s the Live Photo. At the same time that it saves photos, the iPhone is also saving audio from that those seconds to add a soundtrack to the Live Photo. It’s not quite the same as a video—think of it more like stop-motion animation—and it’s not ultra-high-resolution, but it’s fun and useful.
How to Take a Live Photo on iPhone
Taking an iPhone Live Photo is very easy. Just follow these steps:
How to View a Live Photo
Watching a Live Photo come to life—seeing a static photo magically transformed with movement and sound—is where things really get fun. To view a Live Photo:
How to Find Live Photos in the Photos App
Apple didn’t originally add a special section to the Photos app for Live Photos, so it was hard to find them. These days, though, it’s a snap. Here’s how to find Live Photos in your iOS Photos app:
How to Add Effects to Live Photos
In recent versions of the iOS, you can add cool effects to Live Photos, like Bounce (an automatic forward and reverse of the animation) or Loop. To add these and other effects, follow these steps:
How to Edit a Live Photo
Want to trim out some of the frames of the Live Photo to make it the perfect animation? Here’s how:
How to Change a Live Photo Key Photo
You can choose the still frame that represents the Live Photo in your Photos app by choosing they Key Photo in this way:
How to Turn Off Live Photos
Decided that you don’t want to ever take Live Photos and you want the feature turned off by default? That’s actually trickier than it seems. By default, the Camera app turns on Live Photos every time you use it, even if you disabled the option the last time you used the Camera. Luckily, Apple has provided a way to prevent Camera from always turning on Live Photos. Just follow these steps:
Can You Make a Live Photo a Regular Photo?
You can’t transform a standard photo in a Live Photo, but you can take photos that are Live and make them static by following these steps: Now, if you long press the photo, you won’t see any movement. You can always restore a Live Photo that you’ve edited by following those steps and tapping the Live icon to highlight it and saving again.
How Much Space Do Live Photos Take Up?
We all know that video files take up more space than still photos. Does that mean you have to worry about Live Photos causing you to run out of storage? Probably not. According to reports, Live Photos on average only take up about twice as much space as a standard photo; that’s a lot less than a video does.
What Else Can You Do With Live Photos?
Once you’ve got some exciting Live Photos on your iPhone, you can share Live Photos via email, social media, and text message.
