With iOS 18 beta you can record videos and music at the same time

Apple released the fourth public beta of iOS 18 on August 12, more than two months after the company announced the iPhone software at its Worldwide Developers Conference in June. The beta brings new features to developers' and beta testers' iPhones, such as RCS messaging and T9 dialing. It also lets you use your iPhone to record video and play music at the same time, making it easier to record video for social media.

Before iOS 18, if you were playing music on your iPhone and started recording a video, the music would stop playing. With iOS 18, you can easily queue up the right song and start playing, but I've noticed a few issues with the feature.

Read more: Everything you need to know about the new features in the iOS 18 betas

Remember, iOS 18 is still in beta. I recommend downloading a beta on a device other than your primary device. Beta versions can be buggy and reduce battery life, so these issues are best addressed on a secondary device. I download beta versions on an old iPhone XR and test them there to keep these issues away from my primary phone, an iPhone 14 Pro.

However, the beta is not the final version of iOS 18. With the release of the software in the fall, additional features may already be available on your iPhone.

If you're testing the iOS 18 beta, here's what you should know about this new feature.

Do I need to enable a setting for this feature to work?

There is a setting, but you don't need to do anything once you update to iOS 18. After I downloaded the beta OS, this feature was automatically enabled, so once you update, you should be able to record a video without stopping your music.

Which apps does this feature work with?

I tested this feature with the Music, Spotify, and Podcast apps and was able to play music or audio from all three apps while recording video. However, these are likely not all the apps the feature will work with.

Does audio play when taking screen recordings?

Unfortunately no. I played audio from the above apps and tried to record the screen, but as soon as I started recording, the audio stopped.

What is the music quality of the videos?

Honestly, not great. When I used the feature, the music sounded distant and hollow. Apple writes in the setting's description that the sound is played through your iPhone's speaker and then recorded in mono using your iPhone's built-in microphone, which is probably the reason for the poor quality.

Device microphones can work in environments with little outside noise – such as an interview in a quiet room – but typically deliver inferior quality in more complex sounds or in noisy environments. According to subtitling company Ava, device microphones generally do not offer the same sound pickup capabilities as external microphones, which can result in poorer audio quality.

In addition, mono recordings compress the audio elements, which, according to audio device manufacturer Sonos, can result in a flat and less dynamic sound.

However, if you are not satisfied with the quality of the music in your videos, you can also disable this feature.

How to stop music in the background of videos on iPhone

1. Go to Settings.
2. Knock camera.
3. Knock Record sound.
4. Turn off Allow audio playback.

Now when you record a video, your iPhone will pause music and audio playback until you finish recording.

Again, iOS 18 is still in beta, so Apple could improve this feature before it's released to the general public in the fall. There will likely be more betas before the operating system is released, so Apple will have plenty of time to fix any issues. There is currently no exact date for when Apple will release iOS 18 to the general public.

For more on iOS 18, check out my hands-on experience with the public betas, all the ways to customize your home screen in iOS 18, and our iOS 18 cheat sheet.

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