In iOS 18, Apple has added a control in the Camera app's Settings menu that lets you choose whether audio playing on your iPhone should pause or continue when you start recording in Video mode.
In previous versions of iOS, shooting in Video mode in the Camera app automatically pauses any playing audio including music and podcasts. This behavior is based on the assumption that you don't want any sound coming out of your iPhone's speakers to be picked up on the video recording, but it's no good if you want to play a soundtrack to accompany whatever you're shooting.
One way to get around this is to use the QuickTake method of recording video in Photo mode, introduced in iOS 13, which allows any audio playback to continue during shooting. The only issue is that QuickTake records in lower quality than Video mode is capable of.
But that won't matter soon, because iOS 18 lets you control what happens to audio playback in dedicated Video mode, thanks to a new Allow Audio Playback toggle. "Audio playback will not pause automatically when recording video," notes Apple under the setting. "When playing audio using the iPhone speaker, audio will be recorded in mono."
iPhone users can look forward to several new features when iOS 18 arrives in the fall, around mid-September, with new customization options, generative AI features, Siri improvements, and more. For details on everything that's new, be sure to check out our dedicated iOS 18 roundup.
