Live Photos are on by default in the iPhone Camera. Every shot records a moment before and after you press the shutter, which is lovely for some photos and wasted space for most.
How much space do Live Photos take?
A Live Photo is a still image plus a short video clip of about three seconds. That usually makes it around twice the size of a regular photo. Across thousands of photos, that’s several gigabytes.
Photo Cleaner shows the total size of your Live Photos next to photos, videos and screenshots, so you can see whether they’re worth dealing with.
Turn off Live Photos for new shots
- In the Camera app, tap the Live button (the circles icon) so it shows a line through it.
- To keep it off, open Settings → Camera → Preserve Settings and turn on Live Photo. Otherwise the Camera turns Live back on next time.
Keep only the still for existing Live Photos
Turning off Live in the photo editor doesn’t free space: edits in Photos are non-destructive, so the original Live Photo is kept. To actually save space, make a still copy and delete the original:
- Open the Live Photo in the Photos app.
- Tap the More button (•••), then Duplicate, and choose Duplicate as Still Photo.
- Delete the original Live Photo.
That’s worth doing for your best shots, but it’s slow for thousands of photos. For everyday clean-up, it’s often easier to delete the look-alikes and keep the Live Photos you actually like.
Which Live Photos are worth keeping?
- Keep: moments with movement: kids, pets, waves, fireworks, a toast.
- Let go: receipts, screenshots of documents, landscapes where nothing moves, and the extra shots of a set where you’ve kept the best one.
Don’t forget Recently Deleted
Deleted photos stay in Recently Deleted for 30 days. Empty it in the Photos app to get the space back right away.
