Recently someone asked me how to turn a video into a photo on iPhone. It is a sport video and he wants to take photos out of the video for sharing on his blog. The easiest way to grab pictures from a video on iPhone or iPad is to take a screenshot on the iOS device. This method however has its drawbacks. In this article, we will show you how to extract video frames or turn video into still pictures using the built-in screen capture tool and some third-party apps available on the App Store.
Method 1. Taking a screenshot on iPhone
Just open the Camera Roll or Photos app on the device, find and play the video, then pause at the video frame which you like to grab and save as image file, finally press the Home button(the circular button on the front of the device) and Power/sleep button (located on the side) simultaneously. For iPhones without a Home Button (iPhone X and later), press and hold the Side button (located on the right side of the device) and the Volume Up button (located on the left side) at the same time.
Quickly release both buttons after you hear a camera shutter sound or see the screen flash white. The screenshot is automatically saved to your Photos app. You can find them in the Screenshots album.
Method 2. Extract photos from videos on iPhone iPad using ImgPlay
ImgPlay (GIF Maker – ImgPlay) is primarily designed for creating GIFs rather than viewing individual frames of a video. It allows users to create GIFs from photos, videos, or live photos. It provides tools for editing and customizing GIFs. We can also use its built-in Frame Viewer to view and extract individual frames from videos on iPhone or iPad. This feature is available in its free version, you don’t have to purchase the full version if you only need to export still frames from videos on iPhone.
Open the app on your iPhone or iPad. We are using ImgPlay version 6.3.8 which was released on Dec 13, 2023 in this demo. You will then be prompted to choose source files. You can import and edit videos, photos, GIFs or other compatible formats. Choose Video from the category, then browse to the video albums in Photos and import it to the editor.
The Trim screen opens where you can trim clips by dragging the edge of a clip. You don’t have to trim the video. However this trim feature can help you narrow down the search for the frames to export from the video. It is very useful when the source video is very long. Tap on Next button to proceed to the Edit screen.
On the Edit screen you can find various tools you can make use of to edit the video, such as Canvas, Crop, Text, Filter, Sticker, Border, Speed, etc. At the top right corner, you can find the Save button along with the Frame View button. Tap on Frame View to preview all frames and photos inside the video.
Then inspect the video frame by frame to locate the precise frame you want. Tap on the magnifier icon above a thumbnail to view the frame or image in full screen. Once the frame opens in full screen, tap on the Menu(three dots icon) at the top right corner to bring up the menu at the bottom of the screen. Choose Share or Save > Save Image to save the video frame as image to Photos app on iPhone. The exported frames will be saved as PNG images on your iPhone.
