iOS 18 lets you shoot video while playing audio on iPhone

Apple made a small change in iOS 18 that makes a big difference to me. It involves shooting video.

Since the iPhone has been capable of shooting video, it has always stopped audio playback when you so much as launch the video camera.

Several years back, Apple added the ability to record video from the photo-shooting part of the camera app by long-pressing the shutter. This has been the trick to recording video without interrupting music playback. However, the video format was inferior to what the dedicated video camera can shoot.

Starting with iOS 18, the iPhone now shoots video without stopping your music, podcast, or other playing audio. This works with or without AirPods. The only challenge is remembering that you can now shoot video and play music at the same time.

For me, this is most useful when shooting motorcycle riding video from my mounted iPhone and listening to music in my helmet. It’s a welcome change and something I’ve missed since switching from the original Samsung Galaxy S phone (🤮) to the iPhone 4 (😎) in 2010.

Now for some guess work. Did Apple only now make this change because video capture is about to be a button press away for everyone with the iPhone 16 Pro? We’ll see. Either way, glad to see it!