How to Use iPhone Photo Burst

Quickly take multiple photos

BY KASHIF JAVED

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Tom Werner/DigitalVision/Getty Images

by Sam Costello 

Updated June 24, 2019

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The iPhone's Photo Burst mode lets you take many photos by simply tapping and holding the shutter button. It's the perfect option for taking action shots, capturing just the right candid images, and for finding just the right photo from an important moment. iPhone Burst mode might even improve your photography.

What Is iPhone Photo Burst Mode?

Burst mode is a feature built into the Camera app that comes pre-loaded on the iPhone and iPad. It lets you take a continuous stream of photos just by tapping and holding the shutter button that you'd normally use to take a single photo. It's terrific for taking action photos in situations where you can't perfectly time tapping the shutter button.

Burst mode takes 10 photos per second and lets you take a virtually unlimited number of photos. Once you've taken photos using iPhone Burst mode, you can then review them and choose to keep only the photos you want.

How to Use iPhone Burst Mode

Using Photo Burst mode on the iPhone or iPad is simple. Just follow these steps:

1. Open the Camera app. This can be done from the lock screen or the home screen.
2. Use the slider just below the image to choose either standard Photo or Square format for your images.

   

   Photo and Square modes are the only modes that support the burst feature.
3. When you're ready to start taking photos, tap and hold the shutter button.
   You can also take Burst mode photos by clicking and holding either volume button.
4. As long as you keep holding the shutter button, you'll keep taking 10 photos per second. A counter above the shutter button will let you know how many images you've taken.

   

5. When you're done taking photos, release the shutter button.

Wondering if you can turn off Burst mode? The answer is no, but there is a workaround. Apple doesn't offer a setting to turn off Burst mode. However, Burst mode can't work when you have the camera flash turned on. So, if you want to disable Burst mode, just enable the flash for your photos and you'll only take one image at a time.

How to Choose the Burst Mode Photos You Want to Keep

Once you've taken 10 or 20 or 100 (or more!) photos using iPhone Burst mode, you'll probably want to select the images you want to keep and delete the rest. Here's how:

1. Take photos using Burst mode following the directions from the last section.
2. Tap the photo thumbnail in the bottom left corner of the Camera app.
3. The set of Burst mode photos show up in the Camera app like a single image, except for the text at the top of the screen Burst (xx photos).

   

4. Tap Select...
5. Swipe side to side to view all of the photos captured by Burst mode.
6. Tap the photos you want to keep.

   

7. When you've reviewed all of the Burst mode images and tapped the ones you want, tap Done.
8. In the menu that pops up, choose to either Keep Everything or Keep Only Favorites.

   

9. After you make your choice, all the photos you chose not to save are deleted from your iPhone.

Change your mind after deleting some of your Burst mode photos? Learn how to save deleted photos in How to Recover Deleted Photos from iPhone.

How to View Burst Mode Photos in the iOS Photos App

Want to go back and check out the Burst mode photos you've taken in the past? All of the photos you've saved are stored in their own album in the iOS Photos app. Here's how to find them:

1. Tap the Photos app to open it.
2. Swipe down to the Media Types section.

   

3. Tap Bursts.
4. The Bursts album displays all of the sets of burst mode photos you have haven't either deleted or saved using the steps from the last section.

   

5. Tap one of the sets to view the images and delete or keep the images as you want.