The stock Camera app on iPhone can help us take slow motion videos. In this quick guide, we will show you how to configure slow motion video settings, record slo-mo videos and remove slow motion from video on iPhone. The instructions below can be applied to various iPhone models that support slow motion video capture, such as iPhone 8, iPhone x, iPhone 11, iPhone 12, iPhone 13. If you are using an old iPhone model that does not support slo-mo vidoe recording, you can use a third party video editor to slow down videos on iPhone and thus create the slow motion effect.
Set slow motion video resolution & framerate
To shoot videos in slow motion on iPhone is easy, you just need to switch the camera mode. Before that however you may like to tweak some settings. Launch Settings from your iPhone home screen. Scroll down and select Camera. Once the Camera settings screen opens, you will be able to find the Record Slo-mo option. Here you can find and change video resolution and frame rate for your slow motion videos.
- 1080p HD at 120 fps
- 1080p HD at 240fps
- 720p HD at 240 fps
On iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus, iPhone X, iPhone 11, iPhone 12 and iPhone13 you can take slow motion videos in 1080p full HD at 120 frame per second or 240 frame per second. Be aware of the huge file size of slo-mo videos. A minute of slow motion video which is captured in 1080p HD at 120 fps may take around 350MB storage space, for slow motion videos in 1080p HD at 240 fps, it could be 480MB approximately.
Slow motion videos in 720p vs 1080p
Some iPhone users may not find the 720p option on the Record Slo-mo settings screen, it is because they have changed the camera formats to High Efficiency from Settings > Camera > Formats. Here you have options to switch between High Efficiency and Most Compatible. If High Efficiency is selected, you will see only two options, 1080p HD at 120 fps and 1080p HD at 240 fps. If Most Compatible is selected, you see an additional option 720p HD at 240 fps. In general, you should set the camera format to High Efficiency, so photos and videos will be encoded with the high efficiency HEIF and HEVC and thus reduce image and video file size greatly. In general, images saved in the HEIC format may only take up around 50-60 percent of storage when compared to those captured in the .JPEG format.
Show Slo-mo video format control
On the Record Slo-mo settings screen, you will also find an option titled Video Format Control. When it is enabled, you will see the video format controls in the Camera while you shooting slow motion videos, and you can even touch on them to change the video resolution and/or frame rate right in the Camera without the need to head to the Settings as shown above. Take a close look at the screenshot below in the Steps to record slo-mo videos on iPhone section, you can see the HD • 120 from the top right corner of the recording screen. You can tap on HD to change it to 720p, or touch 120 to change it to 240 without leaving the slow-mo video capturing screen.
Steps to record slo-mo videos on iPhone
As we mentioned above, to shoot videos in slow motion on iPhone is very easy, you just need to change the camera mode. Launch the Camera app on your iPhone. You will find various camera modes at the lower section of your phone screen. Swipe to the right to find and select Slo-Mo mode. Then tap the record button to start the slow-mo video recording on iPhone.
Speed up video and remove slow motion effect on iPhone
If one inadvertently activated the slo-mo mode when he/she meant to capture a regular video, is it possible to make the video faster and remove slow motion effect? Luckily, iOS has the feature to allow us convert slo-mo videos to normal speed on iPhone right within the Photos app without any third-party video editors.
Update Aug 2022: this post was originally published in Mar 2018 and has since been updated. added more recent iPhone models, an additional slow motion video capture preset 720p HD at 240 fps, show slow motion video format control in Camera.