Alex Ruben
How To Capture Photos and Videos with AirPods
Imagine capturing moments without fumbling with your phone, just a simple click or hold on your AirPods. Sounds kind of futuristic, but with the right setup, it’s totally doable. Of course, this isn’t some official feature Apple advertised everywhere, so it’s a bit of a hidden trick. Honestly, if you’ve got AirPods Pro 2 and a decent iPhone running iOS 16 or newer, you might stumble into this accidentally; or maybe you heard about it on some forum and wondered how the heck it works. Either way, here’s the gist: you can use your AirPods to snap photos and even start recording videos — if you set it up right, that is. It’s kinda neat, especially if you want to avoid those shaky hands on your phone or just want to be more discreet when taking a shot.
Now, don’t expect this to beat your fancy DSLR, but for quick snaps or spontaneous recordings, it’s enough. Just know that it isn’t super obvious and might require a few tricks to get working smoothly. So, here’s what you need to keep in mind: your device needs to be up to date, your AirPods connected properly, and you’ll need to do some fiddling with the camera controls. Once it’s set, you get a kinda hidden shortcut that helps you grab shots without touching the phone — which is literally useful in awkward situations, or when your hands are otherwise occupied. Let’s get into how to set it up and what combos actually work.
How to Take Photos and Videos Using Your AirPods
Ensure Everything Is Prepared & Your Devices Are Connected
This helps because if your AirPods aren’t paired right or your iPhone isn’t running the latest software, the trick just won’t work. Check your iPhone version first: Settings > General > About — make sure it’s at least iOS 16. Some folks report that earlier versions don’t support this kind of shortcut or don’t work reliably. And your AirPods: they should be fully charged with the latest firmware, ideally the AirPods Pro 2 if you want all the bells and whistles.
To connect: open the lid of your AirPods case, then go to Settings > Bluetooth, toggle it on if it isn’t already, then tap your AirPods to connect. Hit the side button on the case to put them into pairing mode if needed. Sometimes connection issues happen, especially if your Bluetooth’s been flaky — just toggle Bluetooth off and back on, or forget and reconnect your AirPods.
Open Your Camera App & Position Your Shot
This is pretty straightforward. Swipe to open your camera, or find it in the app drawer. Set your iPhone somewhere stable, or hold it steadily. You’ll want your subject centered, of course. Because the secret here is, you’re not touching the phone to snap — you’re using your AirPods to trigger it.
Using Your AirPods to Snap or Record
Here’s where it gets interesting. Make sure your AirPods are snug in your ears — they need to be active and recognized as audio input. On some setups, the magic trigger is the side button, which you can assign to control photo capture or video recording. The trick is, the side button on the AirPods Pro 2 can sometimes be used as a remote shutter if you’ve set it up in accessibility options or with shortcuts.
If that didn’t help, here’s what might: open Settings > Accessibility > Touch > Back Tap. You can assign a double or triple tap to run a shortcut that triggers the camera shutter. For example:
- Create a shortcut with the Camera app action. The built-in Shortcuts app can do this, but sometimes it’s finicky. You might want to look for a specific shortcut that takes a photo or record a video with one tap.
- Then, assign that shortcut to a Back Tap gesture. It’s kind of awkward but works on newer iPhones. On older models, you might need to use accessibility features or a third-party app to assign a cue to your AirPods’ controls.
Alternatively, some users report success by simply saying “Hey Siri, take a photo” if you’ve enabled voice commands and Siri is listening when AirPods are active. On one setup it worked like a charm, on another, it was hit or miss.
Review & Save Media
Once you’ve snapped a photo or recorded a clip, just open the Photos app to see your shot. If it’s not perfect, no worries — quick edits are easy. The important part is, you managed to trigger the camera without poking your screen.
Extra Tips & Common Pitfalls
Make sure your camera settings are dialed in before shooting — adjusting exposure, focus, and flash as needed. Also, if your AirPods aren’t responding, try disconnecting and reconnecting or restarting your device. Sometimes the Bluetooth stack gets confused, and a fresh start fixes it. And yeah, keep enough storage free, or your shots won’t save. Weird, but true.
Because of course, Apple’s ecosystem isn’t fully open, and this hack isn’t officially supported. Expect some trial and error — sometimes it works perfectly, other times you’re fiddling for a minute trying to figure out why your AirPods aren’t triggering. The more you play around with shortcuts and settings, the better it gets.
Wrap-up
Basically, if you’re willing to get a little hands-on and tinker with shortcuts or accessibility features, you can turn your AirPods into remote shutter buttons for your camera. It’s not perfect, and not officially intended for this, but it’s kind of a hidden gem for spontaneous shots or when your hands are full. Not sure why it works on some setups and not others, but hey — that’s tech for you.
Summary
- Make sure your iPhone is on iOS 16+ and your AirPods are fully charged and connected.
- Use accessibility settings like Back Tap or configure Siri commands.
- Create shortcuts if needed for quick photo/video capturing.
- Practice a bit to get responses reliable; on some old iPhones, things are way more glitchy.
- Expect some trial and error, but it’s worth it for the novelty and convenience.
Conclusion
Getting your AirPods to act as a remote shutter isn’t exactly a user-friendly feature, but once set up, it can be surprisingly handy. Just don’t expect everything to be seamless — Apple didn’t make this an official feature, so it’s kinda a workaround. Still, it’s a fun trick to pull out when you want to be a bit sneaky or just avoid the hassle of tapping on the screen. Fingers crossed this helps someone save a bit of time or adds a cool new tool to their capture arsenal.