iOS 6: How to Take Photos While Shooting Video on the iPhone 5

It’s possible to take a photo while shooting video on the iPhone 5 thanks to a new feature in iOS 6. This means users don’t need to choose between taking video and capturing a perfect photo opportunity.

While shooting video on the iPhone 5 users can tap on the camera button to take a photo while the video keeps rolling.

The feature is only available on the iPhone 5. Even though the iPhone 4S, iPhone 4 and iPhone 3GS run iOS 6, there is no way to take a photo while shooting video on these older devices. This isn’t reason alone to buy the iPhone 5 over the iPhone 4S, but it’s another example of how Apple keeps the best features for the newest iPhone.

Take Photos While Shooting Video on the iPhone 5

The video below walks through taking a photo while in video mode on the iPhone 5. It’s easy to miss the small camera icon in the upper right, but that’s all there is to taking a photo while shooting a video.

Tap the small camera icon in the upper right to take a photo, you can take photo after photo without stopping video.

Read: iOS 6 Tips and Tricks

Below are a number of sample photos taken while also shooting a video. The photos captured are at a lower resolution than the iPhone 5 normally takes photos because it matches the video resolution. This means photos are 1920 x 1080, which is still suitable for sharing online and printing for home use.

This new feature helps Apple compete with the Samsung Galaxy S III, which also allows users to take a photo while shooting video. This feature is the focus of several Samsung ads, but isn’t mentioned by Apple in iPhone ads.