How to Convert Live Photos to Still on iPhone

Activating Live Photos is an excellent way to capture moments on your iPhone. It’s convenient to get a few seconds of a moment with one key photo you can change at any time. But what if you need it as a still image? Luckily, you can tweak your Live Photos into still photos in multiple ways.

We explored all the ways you can turn live photos into stills on your iPhone for this guide. We’ll cover the advantages of using each method, as well as useful hacks you can apply to get your still photos without much hassle.

How to Convert Live Photo to Still

Out of the different ways to extract still images from your live photos, some methods will suit your needs better. With this in mind, we have tested several ways to process your live photos and categorized the processes into the following sections below.

1. Edit a Single Live Photo

If you’re only editing one or a few live photos, then using your iPhone’s native Edit menu is the most convenient method to convert Live Photo to still. Despite being manual, this method does not require installing any app. Plus, you can edit a photo with only a few taps.

Here’s how you can get your image from a Live Photo on iPhones running iOS 13 to the latest devices like the iPhone 15 series with iOS 17:

1. Open the Photos app.
2. Scroll down and head over to Live Photos under Media Types.
3. Select a live photo, then tap Edit on the top right corner of your menu.
   
4. Tap the Live Photo icon at the bottom of the menu.
5. Choose your key photo by sliding on your selected frame.
   
6. Next, tap the LIVE button at the top of the screen to turn off the feature.
   
7. Don’t forget to tap Done at the top right corner after applying your change.

After this, your Live Photo will turn into a still image. You can undo this change by applying the same steps as above. Alternatively, you can simply do the following:

1. Tap the live photo you want to edit.
2. Next, tap the LIVE option on the top left corner of your screen when viewing a Live Photo.
3. Select whether you want your image to apply the Live or Live Off option.
   

Note that this method will not delete the Live Photo information from your image, thus not decreasing the file size.

2. Convert Multiple Live Photos to Still

Using the Edit option on your Photos app would be tedious if you have hundreds of photos to extract. To convert multiple Live Photos to still images at once, you can use the Duplicate as Still Photos feature on your iPhone. Here’s how you can do this:

1. Open the Photos app.
2. Tap Select in the top right corner of your screen.
3. Tap the Live Photos you want to convert.
4. Tap the Meatballs menu (three dots menu) and select Duplicate.
   
5. In the pop-up menu, select Duplicate as Still Photos.
   

This will change Live Photo to still in bulk. However, this method duplicates the selected photos, taking up more space. To delete the live photos, go to the Live Photos album on your Photos app and manually select and delete the duplicates.

3. Convert All Live Photos to Sill Using Shortcuts

You can use your iPhone’s Shortcuts menu if you need a more automated option to turn your live photos into still images. Once run, this shortcut will convert all Live Photos to still on iPhone.

You can use this method on devices with the Shortcuts app, up to all iOS 17 devices. We’re using an iPhone 13 Pro Max device to test this method. Here’s how you can create this shortcut:

1. Launch the Shortcuts app on your iPhone.
2. Tap the + button in the top right corner to create a new shortcut.
   
3. Tap the Add Action button under the New Shortcut option.
   
4. Find the Photos option (by using the search bar or simply scrolling down) and select Find Photos.
5. Tap Add Filter within the action.
6. Then, select the first variable (which should have the value “Album” by default) and change it to Photo Type. Then, edit the second variable to Live Photo.
   
7. Next, search and select the Repeat with Each action.
8. Now, search and select the Convert Image action.
   
9. Under Convert Image, change the variable Repeat Results by tapping and holding onto it to trigger the menu. Then, tap Select Variable.
   
10. Now, choose Repeat Item.
11. Change the photo type from JPEG to the type you want. We chose PNG for this example.
12. Afterward, search for the Save to Photo Album action. The action should display “Save Converted Image to Recents.”
13. Make sure that the End Repeat action is the last action to be executed. If this is not the case, hold and drag the action downwards until it is.
    
14. Tap Done on the top right corner of your screen.

You should now be able to run your shortcut by tapping on it or selecting the shortcut and tapping the Play button in the bottom right corner.

This method is the most time-efficient way to convert Live Photo to still to save space. However, remember to back up your files before proceeding with the shortcut if you don’t want to lose your live photos.

4. Manage Live Photos Using Mac

If you have a Macbook, you can also manage your live photos in bulk using its Photos app. This method is more efficient, especially if you have tons of photos to convert to still images.

However, note that Macs or iPhones may sometimes malfunction when handling thousands of photos at once. If you have thousands of photos to convert, we suggest doing it in batches of hundreds.

You should also have a Macbook powered by at least macOS Sierra to recognize Live Photos. Here’s how you can turn live photos into stills using your Mac:

1. Connect your iPhone to your Mac.
2. Once connected, select Import (n) selected to import your Live Photos.
   
3. Launch the Photos app on your Mac.
4. Select the live photo that you want to convert.
5. Click Edit in the top right corner.
6. Click on the Live photobutton at the bottom of the window and select Off from the dropdown menu.
   
7. Finally, click Done.

Another method you can try using a Mac is importing your Live Photos to the computer’s Photos app and selecting File > Export to export JPEG copies of the files.

Bonus tip: If you’re on Windows instead, you can try connecting your iPhone to your PC and transferring your Live Photos there. You should see a JPEG version of your Live Photos, together with a .AAE (exported Apple settings) file, after the transfer.

Do Live Photos Take Up More Space Than Usual Photos?

Do live photos take up more space than still images? The simple answer is yes. Live photos capture a few seconds of high-resolution video and audio for each image and link this information to the photo’s metadata.

With heavier data, you’d expect the Live Photos to take up more space. Depending on the duration of the video on your Live Photo (up to three seconds, which varies depending on the video details and how you shot your photo), it can be twice or even three times the size of its still image counterpart.

Aside from converting your Live Photos to still images, you can also turn on iCloud’s Optimize iPhone Storage to save your storage. This option keeps a smaller copy of your photos on your device and stores the full resolution of the photo on iCloud.