IOS 18 Finally Lets You Pause Video Recording
Since the 3GS , recording video on the iPhone is simple: you press the record button, shoot the video, then press the button again to stop. Your video is saved, and if you want to record more, you need to repeat the process to start another clip.
While Apple has added many additional video features over the years, from a cinematic mode to 3D recording designed for playback on the Vision Pro , the process for recording these videos has remained virtually unchanged. At least until iOS 18.
Putting the finishing touches on the upcoming iPhone update, Apple has quietly added a new video recording option : starting with iOS 18 release candidate (RC), you’ll now see a pause button in the bottom corner of the camera app whenever you’re recording a video. If you press the pause button instead of the record button, the recording will pause but not end. Press the button again and you can continue recording. You’ll still hit the record button one last time to stop recording forever, but iOS will combine all the clips you ended up shooting in that session into one video file.
If you mostly record videos one at a time, this may not seem like such a big deal. But in some situations the pause button will definitely come in handy. Namely, it can save some creators time editing their videos: Instead of filming a bunch of separate videos and then cutting and editing them together, creators can pause recording to prepare a new shot. For casual content like social media posts or vlogs, this new button can be a game changer.
Personally, I’m thrilled to be able to relive the days of linear video recording: for example, when shooting on film, you pressed “record”, shot a frame, then pressed “record” again to essentially pause the video. Since everything was saved to the same tape, pressing record again would start recording from where you last left off. When you ran out of tape, you watched the footage in order from start to finish.
Don’t get me wrong, the flexibility of digital recordings is far superior to older methods. But I miss this aspect of linear video. Perhaps this small change will encourage more of us to accidentally combine multiple clips into one video, rather than ending up with dozens of unwatched clips scattered throughout our libraries.
As of this writing, this feature is still part of the iOS 18 beta and is not yet publicly available. However, Apple will release its upcoming update on Monday , September 16th. If you really can’t wait, you can download and install iOS 18 RC right now to try it out. But on Monday, you’ll be able to update your iPhone to try out this feature, as well as the rest of the new features and changes in iOS 18.