You’re standing there, phone in hand, recording your kid’s first steps or maybe just a really great sunset. Suddenly, someone walks in front of the lens. Or you need to move to a different angle. You look for the pause button. It isn’t there. Honestly, it’s one of the most baffling omissions in the history of iOS. People have been asking how to pause video on iPhone since the 3GS came out, and yet, here we are in 2026, and the native Camera app still forces you to stop and start separate clips.
It feels broken.
If you’re coming from Android, this is a legitimate culture shock. Samsung and Pixel users have had a dedicated pause button for a decade. On an iPhone, hitting that red square means the file is cooked, saved, and finished. If you want to continue, you’re making a second file. Then a third. Pretty soon, your Photos app is a cluttered mess of four-second clips that you have to stitch together in iMovie like you’re editing a feature film.
But there are workarounds. Some are built-in but hidden; others require you to step outside Apple’s walled garden. Let’s get into the weeds of why this happens and how you can actually get the shot you want without ending up with fifty different files.
The QuickTake Trick (and its Frustrating Limits)
Apple did eventually add a way to "sort of" pause, but they didn't call it that. They called it QuickTake.
If you are in Photo mode—not Video mode—you can hold down the shutter button to start recording. To keep recording without holding your thumb there, you slide it to the right toward the lock icon. Now, here is the catch: you still can't pause. But you can take high-resolution stills while the video is running by tapping the white shutter button that appears.
Wait. That doesn’t help you pause, does it?
Actually, the closest thing to a "native" pause is the realization that Apple wants you to use the Record Video setting within the Photo section. If you need a break in the action, most people just stop the recording. But if you want to know how to pause video on iPhone without creating a new file, you have to look at the App Store. Apple’s internal logic seems to be that "pausing" leads to dropped frames or corrupted headers if the phone crashes, so they prefer distinct, finalized files. It’s a "safety" feature that feels like a massive inconvenience.
Third-Party Apps: The Real Solution
If you’re serious about this, stop using the default Camera app for anything other than quick snapshots.
Apps like PauseCam or VideoCam+ exist for one reason: they do what Apple won't. When you use an app like PauseCam, you get a literal pause button. You hit it, the viewfinder freezes, you move to your next spot, and you hit record again. When you're finally done, the app stitches those segments into one single .mp4 or .mov file.
- Filmic Pro: This is the gold standard. It’s expensive and now uses a subscription model, which sucks, but it gives you professional-level control. You can’t "pause" in the traditional sense of a single file being written in real-time to the disk with gaps, but its internal management makes the "stop-start" flow much more seamless for creators.
- ProMovie Recorder: A slightly more affordable version that offers manual controls.
- Non-Stop Cam: This one is specifically designed for the "one file" dream.
Why hasn't Apple done this? Some experts, like those over at 9to5Mac and MacRumors, have speculated it’s about file integrity. When you stop a video, the iPhone "wraps" the file with metadata. If the phone died mid-pause, you might lose the whole thing. By forcing a "Stop," Apple ensures that everything recorded up to that second is safe in your NAND storage. It’s a very "Apple" way of protecting users from themselves, even if it drives us crazy.
The iMovie Workaround for the "One File" Vibe
Okay, let's say you already recorded six different clips because you didn't have a third-party app. Now you're annoyed because you wanted one clean video to send to your grandma on WhatsApp.
You don't need a laptop for this.
Open iMovie on your iPhone. Start a "New Movie." Tap on your clips in the order you shot them. Hit "Create Movie." Now, just export it. It takes about thirty seconds if the clips are short. This is technically how Apple expects you to "pause." They view the camera as a capture tool and the Photos/iMovie ecosystem as the assembly line. It’s a multi-step process for a one-step problem.
Instagram and TikTok: The Accidental Heroes
Funny enough, the best way to record a paused video is often right inside your social media apps.
Instagram Stories and TikTok are built entirely on the concept of "hold to record." You hold your thumb down, you record, you let go. The video is "paused." You move, hold down again, and it resumes. You can then download that finished video to your camera roll without ever actually posting it to the platform.
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- Open Instagram.
- Swipe right to the Story camera.
- Hold the record button.
- Release it to "pause."
- When finished, tap the three dots (...) and hit Save.
It’s a bit of a hack, and you might lose some bit-rate quality compared to the 4K 60fps raw power of the native camera, but for most people, it’s the fastest way to get a continuous narrative without the "Stop/Start" headache.
Why "Pause" Matters More in 2026
With the advent of Log recording on the iPhone 15 Pro and later models, the file sizes are getting massive. We are talking gigabytes for just a few minutes of footage. If you are constantly stopping and starting, you are creating a nightmare for your file management system.
When you're trying to figure out how to pause video on iPhone, you're often actually trying to save storage space. Every time you start a new file, the phone has to write new header data. Over hundreds of clips, that adds up. More importantly, it adds "mental load." Nobody wants to scroll through a gallery of 500 thumbnails that all look identical because they’re all parts of the same soccer game.
The Hardware Alternative
There is a weird, physical workaround. Use a Bluetooth shutter remote.
While it still technically "stops" the video, many of these remotes allow you to trigger the record function much more fluidly than tapping a screen, which usually shakes the phone. If you are on a tripod, using a remote to end one clip and immediately start another makes the transition in your editing software much cleaner. It’s not a pause button, but it’s a professional workflow.
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Summary of Actionable Steps
Stop waiting for Apple to update the Camera app with a pause button. It’s been nearly twenty years; it might never happen. Instead, change your capture strategy based on what you’re filming.
For casual, "just want one file" moments, use the Instagram Story camera and save the video to your roll. It’s the most intuitive way to get the pause-and-play feel. For high-quality projects where you actually care about 4K resolution, download a dedicated app like PauseCam. If you’ve already messed up and have a dozen clips, use the "Combine" feature in the Shortcuts app—you can actually build a custom Shortcut that takes the last X number of videos and merges them automatically. This saves you from having to open iMovie every single time.
The reality of the iPhone is that it’s a powerful camera trapped in a very rigid software philosophy. You can't change the philosophy, but you can definitely work around it. Log into the App Store, grab a third-party recorder, and stop letting Apple’s "file integrity" obsession get in the way of your creativity.