Time-lapse

What is time-lapse photography?

Time-lapse photography is when your camera takes single images over a long time period and combines them to create a video that shows the movement of the environment around you. It’s often used to show buildings being constructed over a long period of time, or the movement of stars in the night sky.

How can I create a time-lapse video on my phone?

Newer iPhones and Android phones have time-lapse built into their camera apps - on iPhones it’s called TIME-LAPSE and on Android devices it’s called Time Lapse or Hyperlapse. Just open the camera app, swipe along the camera modes and select it.

Both iPhone and Android devices record time-lapse video at various frame rates which automatically adjust to what you’re recording. For example, on iPhone, the default time-lapse settings take one shot every 0.5 seconds, and keeps doing this for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, it doubles the interval to 1 second, repeats this process every ten minutes, and deletes half the already-taken images so your video appears to be using the same interval set by your iPhone at the start of the process.

What are time-lapse apps?

If you’re looking to create more detailed time-lapse videos and you don’t want to use basic settings on your phone, there are plenty of options available for iPhone and Android users:

iPhone: