iOS 18 now lets you shoot videos while listening to music or podcasts

iPhone 15 Plus review camera
The iPhone 15 Plus (Image credit: Future | Alex Walker-Todd)

iOS 18 is packed full of features and improvements, from more customization options to a full password manager app, the ability to lock apps, and more. And we now know about one additional feature – one that’s small, but potentially very useful for some people.

As spotted by 9to5Mac, with iOS 18 you're able to record videos without it pausing your music, podcast, or anything else you’re listening to.

Technically, you can already do this, but only by long-pressing the shutter key while in the photos mode of the camera app. So you’d need to remember to use this unusual method, and shooting video like this also limits you to 1080p quality at 30fps, so it’s not as good as using the dedicated video mode.

iPhone 15 Pro review 35mm camera UI

The iPhone 15 Pro (Image credit: Future | Alex Walker-Todd)

No more compromises

With iOS 18 though, you don’t have to make that compromise – just switch to the video camera, press record, and you’ll find that your audio continues playing.

This might not be super-useful most of the time, but if for example you’re listening to something while out walking and spot something you want to film, you won’t have to pause the audio. 9to5Mac also gives the example of shooting video from a mounted iPhone while riding a motorcycle, and while listening to music in your helmet (as audio won’t stop when played through AirPods either).

So there are certainly use cases for this, and it seems strange that it's taken Apple so long to add such an apparently basic feature.

If you want to give the feature a try, you can download the iOS 18 beta now, although we’d recommend waiting for the finished version of iOS 18, which will likely land in September.

You might also like

James Rogerson

James is a freelance phones, tablets and wearables writer and sub-editor at TechRadar. He has a love for everything ‘smart’, from watches to lights, and can often be found arguing with AI assistants or drowning in the latest apps. James also contributes to 3G.co.uk, 4G.co.uk and 5G.co.uk and has written for T3, Digital Camera World, Clarity Media and others, with work on the web, in print and on TV.