iMovie iPad movie from stills won't play back

I'm using iMovie 3.0.5 on two iPads running iOS 18.3.1. If I create or open a movie made up of stills, all the editing functions work, but the playback is frozen on whatever frame the playback head is sitting on when I start the playback. This happens on both iPads, and doesn't seem to happen if the content is video rather than stills. The stills are from Photos, from various sources.

If I render the video to Photos, the resulting video plays back normally.

Sorry, I tagged this wrong; it has nothing to do with my MacBook.

Update: It also is happening on my iPhone, running the same version of iOS.

MacBook Air

Posted on Feb 19, 2025 5:04 PM

Top-ranking reply

Rich839

Level 8

48,156 points

Posted on Feb 22, 2025 7:03 PM

Hi,

From what I have read it is a bug that Apple will be addressing in the next iOS iMovie update.

Meanwhile, for projects consisting of photos, inserting a video anywhere in the time line will cure the issue..

-- Rich

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iMovie iPad movie from stills won't play back

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