How to Make a Video Slow Motion on iPhone

Slow motion video is one of the most satisfying features on an iPhone — and it's more powerful than most people realize. Whether you're capturing a splashing water balloon, a sports moment, or just adding cinematic flair to everyday footage, the iPhone gives you multiple ways to shoot and create slow-motion video. Here's exactly how it works.

What Makes Slow Motion Video Work

Slow motion is achieved by recording at a higher frame rate than playback. Standard video plays at 24–30 frames per second (fps). When you record at 120fps or 240fps and then play it back at 30fps, the footage appears 4x or 8x slower than real life — smooth, fluid, and dramatic.

The iPhone's built-in Slo-Mo mode in the Camera app handles this automatically. You shoot at a high frame rate, and the iPhone slows it down during playback without any extra editing required.

Method 1: Use the Built-In Slo-Mo Camera Mode 🎬

This is the simplest and most common approach.

1. Open the Camera app on your iPhone
2. Swipe to SLO-MO mode (it sits in the camera mode carousel alongside Photo, Video, and Portrait)
3. Tap the red record button to start shooting
4. Tap again to stop
5. Open the clip in Photos — it will play back in slow motion automatically

The entire clip defaults to slow motion, but you can adjust which portion plays slowly inside the Photos app.

Adjusting the Slow-Motion Section in Photos

After recording, you have fine-grained control over the slow section:

1. Open the clip in the Photos app
2. Tap Edit in the top right corner
3. At the bottom of the screen, you'll see a timeline with vertical lines — tightly spaced lines indicate the slow-motion segment
4. Drag the white handles left or right to define exactly where the slow-motion begins and ends
5. The sections outside those handles play at normal speed
6. Tap Done to save

This means you can have a clip that starts at normal speed, drops into slow motion for the key moment, then returns to full speed — all without any third-party editing app.

Method 2: Convert a Regular Video to Slow Motion

If you already recorded a clip in standard Video mode and want to slow it down after the fact, the native Photos editor doesn't offer a speed-reduction tool. For this, you'll need either iMovie (free from Apple) or a third-party app.

Using iMovie on iPhone

1. Open iMovie and create a new Movie project
2. Import your video clip
3. Tap the clip in the timeline to select it
4. Tap the speed icon (a speedometer symbol) in the toolbar
5. Drag the speed slider to the left to slow the clip down — down to 1/8th speed
6. Export when finished via the share button

Keep in mind: slowing down footage that was originally recorded at 30fps will result in a choppier, less smooth result than footage recorded natively at 120fps or 240fps. The frames simply get stretched — there's no new information added.

Frame Rate Options by iPhone Model

Not every iPhone supports the same slow-motion frame rates. Here's a general breakdown based on hardware generation:

To check and change your frame rate setting:

• Go to Settings → Camera → Record Slo-mo
• Choose between available options (typically 120fps HD or 240fps HD)

Higher frame rates capture more detail per second but create larger file sizes. A 10-second 240fps clip takes up significantly more storage than the same clip at 120fps.

Third-Party Apps for More Control

If you want features beyond what the native Camera and iMovie offer — such as custom playback speeds, speed ramping, or slow-motion exports with music — several apps expand your options:

• CapCut — popular for speed adjustments and visual effects, free with in-app options
• InShot — straightforward speed control with timeline editing
• LumaFusion — professional-grade multi-track editing, paid, suited for more advanced workflows

These apps let you apply variable speed — so a single clip can ramp from fast to slow and back — which the native Photos editor doesn't support.

Factors That Affect Your Results 📱

The quality of your slow-motion footage depends on several variables:

• Which iPhone model you have — older models max out at 720p for 240fps
• Lighting conditions — slow-motion requires more light because the shutter speed is extremely fast; low-light slo-mo tends to be grainy or dark
• Whether you shot natively in Slo-Mo or converted afterward — native capture always produces smoother results
• Available storage — high frame rate video fills up space quickly
• Your editing goals — simple playback adjustments vs. precision speed ramping require different tools

Someone shooting a casual birthday moment in good daylight with a recent iPhone will get near-effortless results from the native Slo-Mo mode alone. Someone working with older footage, low-light conditions, or complex editing timelines will run into different constraints that shape which approach actually makes sense.