Live Photos are great when you want them. The little 3-second clip captures real moments. But when you don't want them, they eat storage like crazy. Each Live Photo is roughly 2-3x the size of a regular one.
You can turn it off per-shot, permanently as default, or for the entire camera. Here's how each method works.
Turn off Live Photos for one shot
Open the Camera app. At the top of the screen you'll see the Live Photo icon (a circle of dashes). When it's yellow, Live Photos are on. When it has a slash through it, they're off.
Tap it to toggle. The change applies to your next shot. Quick but the setting goes back to default after you close the Camera app.
Make "off" the default permanently
iPhones reset Live Photos to on every time you close Camera. To stop that, go to Settings then Camera then Preserve Settings. Toggle Live Photo to on.
Now whatever state you leave it in (on or off), the camera remembers next time. Set Live Photos to off once and it stays off across sessions.
Turn off Live Photos for existing photos
If you want to keep a photo but remove its Live Photo animation (to save space), open the photo in the Photos app. Tap Edit. Tap the Live Photo icon at the top of the editor.
Toggle Live off. The animation is removed and the file becomes a standard still photo. About 60% smaller in storage.
Convert Live Photos to stills in bulk
The Photos app doesn't have a built-in bulk option. But there's a trick using Shortcuts:
- Open the Shortcuts app and tap Gallery
- Search for Convert Live Photo to Still shortcut
- Add it to your library
- Run the shortcut and select multiple Live Photos to convert
The shortcut processes them one by one and saves still copies. The originals stay unchanged unless you delete them after.
Why bother turning it off?
A few reasons people switch this off:
- Storage savings – Live Photos take 2-3x the space
- Faster shooting since Live needs to record the 1.5 seconds before and after
- Sharing – Live Photos sent to Android become stills anyway, so no point recording the motion
- Posting to social – Instagram and most apps strip the Live element
- Backup speed – iCloud uploads Live Photos slower
For casual photographers, turning it off saves significant space over time. My phone holds about 30% more photos after I disabled it.
Will iPhone Camera still work the same?
Yes, completely. Live Photos are an add-on to the regular photo. Disabling them doesn't change anything about how the camera takes pictures. You still get the same quality, same focus, same HDR.
What you lose – the ability to pick a different key photo from the 3-second clip, the long exposure effect that Live Photos enable, and the loop/bounce animations. If you never use those features, you lose nothing.
Anyone leave Live Photos on by accident for years like I did? Tell me how much storage it ate up.