How To Slow Down a Video on an iPhone (iOS 18 updated)

We show you easy ways to slow down the speed of videos in your iPhone's camera roll.

By Kevin Shaw - Editor
2 Min Read

If you want to slow down a video for cinematic impact, your iPhone can help you achieve that. Here are a couple of easy ways to slow down the speed of videos in your iPhone’s camera roll.

Slow down a video on an iPhone using the Photos app

If your video is captured at a frame rate higher than 30FPS, you can slow down the video for a dramatic effect in iOS 18.

  1. Open the Photos app on your iPhone.

  2. Open the video you want to slow down, then tap or click the Edit button.

  3. Tap or click the Speed control button, then tap or click a playback speed.

  4. After making the desired changes, tap Done to save the edited video.

How to slow down a video on an iPhone using iMovie app

Apple’s iMovie app makes it easy to slow down the speed of your videos on an iPhone. You can even fine-tune speed adjustments for a single clip by dividing it into ranges, each with its own speed. For example, you could set multiple ranges so that a clip slows down, speeds up, and then slows down again.

Note: If you change the speed of a Cinematic mode video clip, you’ll no longer be able to edit any of the Cinematic effects.

You can download the iMovie app from the App Store for free if you don’t have it already. Once you’re ready, follow these steps:

  1. In the iMovie app on your iPhone, open a movie project.

  2. Tap a video clip in the timeline to reveal the inspector at the bottom of the screen.

  3. Tap the Speed button.

  4. To create ranges within a clip, do one of the following:

    • Drag either yellow range handle.

    • Tap Add in the inspector to create another range.

  5. In the inspector, drag the slider left to slow down the speed.

As you drag, the relative speed is displayed below the clip 1/2x means half the normal speed, and so on).

  1. If you want to create additional ranges, tap a portion of the clip outside of the currently selected range, or tap Add in the inspector to create a range border at the playhead position.
    • Drag the yellow range handles to adjust the range, then adjust the range’s speed using the slider.

    • Each range you create is indicated by a vertical white line at the bottom of the clip.

    • To reset the entire clip to normal speed, tap Reset in the inspector.

  2. When you’re finished, tap anywhere outside of the inspector to dismiss it.

  3. Tap the Share icon at the bottom and select Save or Share Video. Then, choose the Save Video option to store the edited video.

By default, iMovie preserves the pitch of audio clips that are sped up or slowed down. To change this, tap the Project Settings button, then tap to turn on "Speed changes pitch." This allows a recorded voice to be higher when sped up or lower when slowed down.

Customize your slo-mo video or section

After you record with the slo-mo camera mode or adjust the video playback speed, you can edit which part of your movie plays with the slow motion effect. That means you can have your video play at regular speed, and slow down for the details that you don’t want your viewers to miss.

In Photos, open the slo-mo video that you want to edit, tap or click the Edit button, then use the vertical white lines in the video timeline to set when slo-mo begins and ends.

With the above methods, you should be able to slow down just about any video saved in your iPhone’s camera roll.

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Kevin Shaw is a seasoned tech journalist based in Los Angeles with a penchant for all things Apple. He started writing about Apple products in 2007 and it's been a love affair ever since. He has spent over a decade testing and writing about iPhones, iPads, Macs, and other Apple products. In his spare time, he likes nothing more than catching up with the latest news and sports podcasts on the beach.
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