Timelapse videos are not getting saved on iPhone 15 Pro Max

Question

Level 1

38 points

Timelapse videos are not getting saved on iPhone 15 Pro Max

iphone 15 pro max, ios 18.5, 2tb internal storage, 852gb available. Using the "normal" camera. Everything looks good on screen while recording, but then it doesn't show up in photos. And still, sometimes it does. I have a couple I took today, the result is under 20 sec. long, they show, another one I recorded for 5 minutes, doesn't. Does the length have anything to do with it? I had another attempt recording for like 20 minutes, didn't show up either. Very dissapointing

[Re-Titled by Moderator]

Original Title: timelapse SOMETIMES does not save videos

Posted on Jul 16, 2025 08:55 PM

Reply

Answer 1

Jul 17, 2025 04:57 AM in response to AlDan

Try if force restarting the iPhone helps. If that does not help reset the iPhone. If that does not help, backup, reset to factory settings, and restore.

Reply

Answer 2

markwmsn

Level 6

16,643 points

Jul 18, 2025 08:37 AM in response to AlDan

Force restarting is a lot less disruptive than either of the resets on the escalation path.

Reply

Answer 3

AlDan Author

Level 1

38 points

Jul 18, 2025 06:16 AM in response to markwmsn

sorry, 1tb.

For me it's not a big deal, I can record normally then make it "lapse" in FinalCut.

And apparently it's only me with this problem, so... yeah, maybe a restore might help, but it's such a pain in the butt...

Reply

Answer 4

AlDan Author

Level 1

38 points

Jul 18, 2025 06:32 PM in response to markwmsn

I did more tests, some at a few minutes, some about 18 min of shooting (the length of my last failed attempt), and everything worked. I thought that having the phone on a tripod is somehow making it feel abandoned and go to sleep, but no... My assumption is that, that pesky AI knows when something is important to me and when is not, and wants to show who the boss is... no well. As a side note, I remember restarting my phone (not force) after the 2nd 15min+ shot, so maybe that did it.

Anyway, thank you all

Alex

Reply

Answer 5

AlDan Author

Level 1

38 points

Jul 17, 2025 06:38 AM in response to Matti Haveri

you forgot to add "if that doesn't help, get iphone 16"... :-)

Ya, no... if you or someone with the same configuration can confirm that recording 15 min of timelapse video results in a file in Photos, I might consider.

Reply

Answer 6

markwmsn

Level 6

16,643 points

Jul 17, 2025 09:22 PM in response to AlDan

Are you sure about that configuration? The most storage Apple has ever offered on an iPhone is 1TB.

That detail aside, my iPhone 16 Pro Max still doesn't match your configuration requirement, or I would offer to try the experiment.

Reply