photos iconBurst Mode refers to when the camera on your iOS device captures a series of photos in rapid succession, at a rate of ten frames per second. It's a great way to shoot an action scene or an unexpected event, since you're always more likely to end up with the picture you were aiming for.

For instance, the picture below was taken when the sun came out momentarily from behind the clouds to throw light on the beautiful yellow ocher leaves of a tree. Burst Mode made it possible to shoot the whole event and then save out the one shot that captured the tree at its most vivid during its brief illumination.

To take a photo in Burst Mode, launch the Camera app from the Lock Screen – if your device is unlocked, select the Camera app from the Home screen or slide the Control Center into view and launch it from there. Once you have a shot in frame, tap and hold the shutter button at the bottom of the Camera interface for the duration of the scene that you're trying to capture.

IMG 2349
Notice the counter increase at the bottom of the frame for as long as you hold down the shutter. This indicates how many shots are being captured in the current burst. Simply take your finger off the shutter when you want to end the burst of shots.

When you take a series of burst photos, they automatically appear in the Photo app under the Album name Bursts. You'll also find them in your main Photo Library as well as the Moments section found in the Photos tab. Here's how to view your burst photos and pick out the best images from them for safe keeping.

How to View Burst Photos

  1. Launch the Photos app.
  2. Tap a collection of burst photos – they appear in the Photos Library as a single picture, but if you look closely, you'll see more images stacked underneath the top thumbnail image.
    taking burst photos 1

  3. Tap Select at the bottom of the screen.
  4. Swipe the film strip-like ribbon of images below the photo to view the other shots in the burst.

taking burst photos 2
Any dots you see below images in a burst indicate that Apple's algorithms think they have the best focus and detail in the set, but of course you may think differently.

How to Save Individual Images in Burst Photos

  1. Tap a stack of burst photos in your Photo Library.
  2. Tap Select in the top-right corner of the screen.
  3. Tap each image in the series that you want to keep.
  4. Tap Done in the top-right corner of the screen.
  5. To keep only the images that you ticked in the burst series, tap Keep Only Favorites. Otherwise, tap Keep everything.

taking burst photos 3

Related Forum: iOS 12

Top Rated Comments

Mac Fly (film) Avatar
75 months ago
Anyone know how to combine several burst photos into one on iOS? The easiest way; preferably an automatic method.

Example photo:

Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
ColdShadow Avatar
75 months ago
How to turn off this annoying feature permanently??
alot of my photos are saved as burst all the time.I hate it!
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Mac Fly (film) Avatar
75 months ago
How to turn off this annoying feature permanently??
alot of my photos are saved as burst all the time.I hate it!
Use volume button as shutter and press with a click.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
RightMACatU Avatar
75 months ago
How to turn off this annoying feature permanently??
alot of my photos are saved as burst all the time.I hate it!
Ahhh this!!! I would double thumb-you-up if I could.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
iapplelove Avatar
75 months ago
Burst photo and Live Photo...two things I shut off immediately.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
yaxomoxay Avatar
75 months ago
Burst photo and Live Photo...two things I shut off immediately.
Live Photos is actually pretty cool. It’s one of the things I radically changed my mind upon. I captured quite a few nice moments with it, and thanks to the possibility to change the main picture I was gladly happy to find out multiple times that a picture taken on a very slightly different moment was much better than the one I actually took.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Popular Stories

iPhone SE 4 Vertical Camera Feature

iPhone SE 4 Rumored to Use Same Rear Chassis as iPhone 16

Friday July 19, 2024 7:16 am PDT by
Apple will adopt the same rear chassis manufacturing process for the iPhone SE 4 that it is using for the upcoming standard iPhone 16, claims a new rumor coming out of China. According to the Weibo-based leaker "Fixed Focus Digital," the backplate manufacturing process for the iPhone SE 4 is "exactly the same" as the standard model in Apple's upcoming iPhone 16 lineup, which is expected to...
iPhone 16 Pro Sizes Feature

iPhone 16 Series Is Just Two Months Away: Everything We Know

Monday July 15, 2024 4:44 am PDT by
Apple typically releases its new iPhone series around mid-September, which means we are about two months out from the launch of the iPhone 16. Like the iPhone 15 series, this year's lineup is expected to stick with four models – iPhone 16, iPhone 16 Plus, iPhone 16 Pro, and iPhone 16 Pro Max – although there are plenty of design differences and new features to take into account. To bring ...
iphone 14 lineup

Cellebrite Unable to Unlock iPhones on iOS 17.4 or Later, Leak Reveals

Thursday July 18, 2024 4:18 am PDT by
Israel-based mobile forensics company Cellebrite is unable to unlock iPhones running iOS 17.4 or later, according to leaked documents verified by 404 Media. The documents provide a rare glimpse into the capabilities of the company's mobile forensics tools and highlight the ongoing security improvements in Apple's latest devices. The leaked "Cellebrite iOS Support Matrix" obtained by 404 Media...
tinypod apple watch

TinyPod Turns Your Apple Watch Into an iPod

Wednesday July 17, 2024 3:18 pm PDT by
If you have an old Apple Watch and you're not sure what to do with it, a new product called TinyPod might be the answer. Priced at $79, the TinyPod is a silicone case with a built-in scroll wheel that houses the Apple Watch chassis. When an Apple Watch is placed inside the TinyPod, the click wheel on the case is able to be used to scroll through the Apple Watch interface. The feature works...
bsod

Crowdstrike Says Global IT Outage Impacting Windows PCs, But Mac and Linux Hosts Not Affected

Friday July 19, 2024 3:12 am PDT by
A widespread system failure is currently affecting numerous Windows devices globally, causing critical boot failures across various industries, including banks, rail networks, airlines, retailers, broadcasters, healthcare, and many more sectors. The issue, manifesting as a Blue Screen of Death (BSOD), is preventing computers from starting up properly and forcing them into continuous recovery...
Apple Watch Series 9

2024 Apple Watch Lineup: Key Changes We're Expecting

Tuesday July 16, 2024 7:59 am PDT by
Apple is seemingly planning a rework of the Apple Watch lineup for 2024, according to a range of reports from over the past year. Here's everything we know so far. Apple is expected to continue to offer three different Apple Watch models in five casing sizes, but the various display sizes will allegedly grow by up to 12% and the casings will get taller. Based on all of the latest rumors,...