Burst Photos on iPhone: How to Take, View, and Delete Them
Updated October 19, 2026.
To take burst photos on iPhone, open the Camera app in Photo mode, then slide the shutter button to the left and hold it. Your iPhone shoots continuously, at up to about 10 frames per second, until you lift your finger. On iPhone X and earlier, touch and hold the shutter button instead.
Bursts are great for action, pets, and group shots, but every frame is saved. This guide covers how to shoot a burst, where to find and view burst photos, how to keep your favorites, and how to clean up old bursts that are using storage.
How to take burst photos on iPhone
- 01
Open the Camera app and make sure you are in Photo mode.
- 02
Slide the shutter button to the left and keep your finger on the screen. A counter shows how many shots have been taken.
- 03
Lift your finger to stop. The shots are saved together as one burst in the Photos app.
Using the volume button: on recent iPhones you can also go to Settings → Camera and turn on Use Volume Up for Burst. Then press and hold the volume up button in the Camera app.
Burst works in Photo mode. If holding the shutter starts a video instead, you held it in place rather than sliding it to the left. That press-and-hold gesture records a quick video on recent iPhones.
How to view burst photos on iPhone
Bursts are grouped in the Photos app as a single stack, so they look like one photo in your library. Here is how to find them and see every frame:
- 01
Open the Photos app.
- 02
Scroll to Media Types (under Collections on recent iOS versions, or Albums on older ones) and tap Bursts.
- 03
Tap a burst, then tap Select to open every frame in the sequence.
- 04
Swipe through the frames and tap the circle on each shot you want to keep.
- 05
Tap Done, then choose Keep Only Favorites to delete the other frames, or Keep Everything to save your picks as separate photos and keep the whole burst.
If you choose Keep Only Favorites, the frames you did not pick go to Recently Deleted, where you can recover them for about 30 days. The exact names of tabs and buttons can vary slightly between iOS versions.
The hidden storage cost of bursts
Under that single thumbnail, every frame is a full photo:
- 1 burst in the library view: looks like 1 photo.
- What is actually stored: every frame you shot. A burst of a few seconds can hold around 50 photos.
Usually you want one or two frames from each burst. If you never clean them up, the rest quietly add up across years of birthdays, sports, and accidental long presses.
Clean up bursts faster with HEVCut
The Photos app method works, but you have to open every burst one at a time. HEVCut's burst cleanup lives in its Duplicates screen and is built to speed that up:
- See every burst in one list. Open Duplicates from the Home screen and choose the Burst filter. Each burst sequence appears as its own group.
- Get a suggested keeper. Tap the sparkles button (Keep Best Copy) on a burst. HEVCut picks a frame based on favorites, edits, Live Photo status, resolution, and file size, and tells you why. It doesn't judge sharpness or expressions, so look through the frames and change the pick, or keep more than one.
- Delete the rest. Tap Delete and confirm. HEVCut removes only the frames you did not select. They go to Recently Deleted for 30 days.
Bursts are left out of the bulk Use suggestions button, so each one gets your own review.
The frames you keep are saved as regular photos in the same step, so they are easy to find, share, and edit later. This needs full access to your photo library.
How to avoid accidental bursts
There is no switch that removes Burst mode entirely, but you can make accidental bursts less likely:
- Turn off Use Volume Up for Burst in Settings → Camera if you keep triggering it by mistake.
- Tap the shutter button instead of sliding or holding it when you only need one photo.
When to use burst mode (and when not to)
To keep your storage healthy, use burst mode intentionally:
- Sports and action: yes. It's the easiest way to catch the right moment.
- Group photos: yes. It helps you find a frame where nobody is blinking.
- Landscapes: no. Nothing is moving, so a single shot is fine.
- Food and still objects: no.
Alternative: use Live Photos for subjects that move a little. A Live Photo captures about 1.5 seconds before and after you tap the shutter, and you can choose a different key photo later, without saving dozens of separate frames. If Live Photos are already filling your library, see how to convert Live Photos to stills to save space.
Frequently asked questions
How do you take burst photos on iPhone?
Open Camera in Photo mode, slide the shutter button to the left, and hold it. Your iPhone keeps shooting until you lift your finger. On iPhone X and earlier models, touch and hold the shutter button instead.
Can I take burst photos with the volume button?
On recent iPhones, yes. Go to Settings, then Camera, and turn on Use Volume Up for Burst. In the Camera app, press and hold the volume up button to shoot a burst.
Where are burst photos on iPhone?
In the Photos app, scroll to Media Types and tap Bursts. Each burst appears as a single thumbnail, with a label that shows how many photos it contains.
How do I view all the photos in a burst?
Open the burst and tap Select. Swipe through the filmstrip to see each frame, and tap the circle on any frame you want to keep as a separate photo.
Can I turn off burst mode on iPhone?
There is no setting that removes Burst mode completely. To avoid accidental bursts, turn off Use Volume Up for Burst in Settings, then Camera (if your iPhone shows that option), and tap the shutter button instead of sliding or holding it.
Do burst photos take up a lot of storage?
They can. Every frame in a burst is a full photo, even though the burst looks like one thumbnail. A burst of a few seconds can hold dozens of frames, so keeping only the best shots frees noticeable space.