How to take a photo while simultaneously shooting video with your iPhone or iPad

July 21, 2014

Sometimes you're shooting a video with the built-in iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad Camera app and you find yourself wanting to take a still photo at the same time. Whether it's an amazing moment amid the action, or just a great composition you want to capture in its won right, there are times when you'll want to have your video and photo too! Luckily, Apple makes it easy to do.

How to shoot a still photo while simultaneously capturing video on your iPhone or iPad.

Launch the Camera app from your iPhone or iPad Home screen
Switch to video mode and start recording. (See: How to record a video with your iPhone or iPad)
Tap the take picture button to the left of the stop/start button.

The screen will flash white to indicate you've taken the photo. Every time you tap the take picture button, another photo will be saved to your Camera Roll, while at the same time your video will just keep recording.

Note: The pictures taken using this method are substantially lower quality than regular pictures. They're 1280x720 (1.2mp/720p/16:9). Most modern iPhones shoot in 3264 x 2448 (8mp/4:3). What you gain in flexibility you lose in image size. (Though it's still better than taking a screenshot of the video later, which results in 1136x640 (0.7mp/16:9).

Note: Originally published February, 2012 by Leanna Lofte. Updated July, 2014.