DB LabsDB Labs

Updated March 12, 2026

By Jack Smith, iOS Developer at DB Labs

Camera Tips

How to Turn Off Live Photos on iPhone

Live Photos capture a 3-second video with every photo, roughly doubling your storage usage. Here is how to turn them off permanently and convert existing Live Photos to regular stills.

March 12, 2026  ·  6 min read

Quick Answer

To turn off Live Photos, open the Camera app and tap the Live Photos icon (concentric circles in the top right). A slash appears through the icon, indicating Live Photos is off. To keep it off permanently, go to Settings > Camera > Preserve Settings and toggle on Live Photo. Without this setting, iOS resets Live Photos to "on" every time you open the Camera app. Live Photos use roughly 2x the storage of regular photos — disabling them can save significant space over time.

How to Disable Live Photos

1 Open the Camera App

Launch the Camera app on your iPhone. Make sure you are in Photo mode (the default mode).

2 Tap the Live Photos Icon

Look for the concentric circles icon in the top right corner (or top left depending on orientation). Tap it. When a slash appears through the icon and you see "Live Off" briefly, Live Photos is disabled for this session.

3 Preserve the Setting

This is the critical step most people miss. Go to Settings > Camera > Preserve Settings and toggle on Live Photo. This tells iOS to remember your Live Photo preference. Without this, the Camera app resets to Live Photos ON every time you close and reopen it.

Important: The Preserve Settings toggle remembers whatever state Live Photos is currently in. So first turn Live Photos OFF in the Camera app, then enable Preserve Settings. If you enable Preserve Settings while Live Photos is on, it preserves the "on" state.

How to Convert Existing Live Photos to Stills

Turning off Live Photos only affects future photos. Your existing Live Photos still contain the video component and still consume extra storage. Here is how to convert them.

Convert Individual Live Photos

  1. Open a Live Photo in the Photos app.
  2. Tap Edit in the top right.
  3. Tap the Live Photo icon (concentric circles) at the top of the screen.
  4. A dropdown menu appears. Select Off.
  5. Tap Done. The video portion is removed and storage is freed.

Find All Your Live Photos

To see how many Live Photos you have, go to Photos > Albums > Media Types > Live Photos. This album shows every Live Photo in your library. You can work through them one by one to convert the ones you do not need as Live Photos.

Storage Impact

A regular HEIC photo averages 2-3 MB. A Live Photo averages 4-7 MB because it includes a 3-second video clip at 1080p. For a library of 10,000 photos where all are Live Photos, you could save 20-40 GB by converting them to stills. Even converting just the Live Photos you never actually use as Live Photos (which is most of them for most people) can free several gigabytes.

Learn more about what Live Photos are and how they work. For a comprehensive guide to managing storage, see our complete iPhone storage guide.

Clean Up Your Photo Library

Turning off Live Photos is just the start. Swype Photo Cleaner helps you quickly sort through all your photos — swipe left to delete blurry shots and duplicates, right to keep.

Free · iPhone · iOS 16+ · 100% on-device, zero uploads

Download on theApp Store

Free · iPhone · iOS 16+

Frequently Asked Questions

How much storage do Live Photos use compared to regular photos?

Live Photos are roughly twice the size of regular photos. A regular HEIC photo averages 2-3 MB, while a Live Photo averages 4-7 MB. For a library of 10,000 photos, that is an extra 20-30 GB of storage consumed by the video component alone.

Can I convert existing Live Photos to regular photos?

Yes. Open a Live Photo, tap Edit, then tap the Live Photo icon at the top and select "Off." The video component is removed and storage is freed. Unfortunately, you have to do this one photo at a time — there is no built-in batch conversion.

Why does Live Photos keep turning back on?

By default, iOS resets camera settings when you close the Camera app. To keep Live Photos permanently off, go to Settings > Camera > Preserve Settings and toggle on "Live Photo." This tells iOS to remember your preference between camera sessions.