In this tutorial, you will learn how you can disable the Live Photos feature on your iPhone 17, both temporarily and permanently.
Live Photos is a useful feature that lets you capture a short video clip whenever you take a photo. However, it also has its drawbacks, such as a waste of storage due to a larger file size.
The good news is that it is easy to disable the Live Photos feature. You can temporarily disable or or opt to permanently disable it on your device. In the second half of this guide, we will also show you how you remove the ‘Live’ part of a photo.
Disable Live Photos on iPhone 17
- Launch the Camera app
- From the top right corner, tap on the menu button. It is made up of six small circles.
- From the menu that opens, tap on the Live option multiple times until the icon turns white with a slash through it.
- To permanently turn off Live Photos, exit Camera and go to Settings.
- Tap on the Camera option and then on Preserve Settings.
- Here, scroll down and turn on the toggle for Live Photos.
Steps 4 to 6 are crucial because we enabled Preserve Settings for Live Photos. This ensures that your iPhone remembers that you have turned the Live Photos option off.
So, even if you close and reopen the Camera app, the iPhone will retain this setting and keep the Live Photo disabled until you manually turn it back on.
Turn off Live Photos for an existing photo
If you have existing Live Photos on your iPhone and you want to turn them into still photos, then follow these steps.
- Open the Camera app and load up the live photo.
- Now tap on ‘Live’ from the top left corner.
- From the menu, choose the ‘Live Off’ option.
After you have followed these steps, the Live Photo will become a still photo, and it will be shared as a still photo when you share it with others.
That’s it, this is how you can enable or disable the Live Photos feature on your iPhone 17 or iPhone 17 Pro running iOS 26 or later.
