How to mute a video on iPhone

Mute a video in the Photos app

The Photos editor has a sound toggle for videos. Its exact position has moved between iOS versions, but it is a speaker icon on the editing screen, usually near the top.

1. Open the Photos app and open the video you want to mute.
2. Tap Edit.
3. Tap the speaker icon. It changes to a crossed-out or dimmed speaker to show that the sound is off.
4. Play the video to check that it is silent.
5. Tap Done. If Photos asks how to save, choose Save Video to change this video, or Save Video as New Clip to keep the original as well.

The muted version is what you share from Photos, so the people you send it to won’t hear the original sound.

To undo it, open the video, tap Edit, then tap Revert. Apple notes that a video saved as a new clip can’t be reverted, but the original stays in your library next to it.

Keep a copy with the original sound

If you want both a silent and a normal version, duplicate the video before you mute it. Open the video, tap the More button, choose Duplicate, then mute one of the two copies. This is handy when you need a silent clip for a presentation or a post with added music but still want the original for yourself.

If you use iCloud Photos, edits sync to your other Apple devices, so a video you mute on your iPhone is also muted on your iPad and Mac. Duplicating first avoids surprises there too.

Videos that aren’t in the Photos app

The Photos editor only works on videos in your library. A video in the Files app, or one you received in a chat app, has to be saved to Photos first. In Files, open the video, tap the Share button and choose Save Video. In messaging apps, open the video and use the app’s save or share option. Once the video appears in Photos, mute it with the steps above.

Mute some clips or replace the sound with iMovie

When you are combining several clips, or want to add music after removing the original sound, Apple’s free iMovie app gives you per-clip control.

1. Create a new movie project in iMovie and add your video.
2. Tap the clip in the timeline to select it.
3. Tap the Audio button at the bottom of the screen, then tap the Mute button next to the volume slider.
4. Add music if you want, tap Done, then use the Share button to save the video to Photos.

iMovie renders a new video when you save it. The Photos toggle is quicker if all you need is a silent version of one clip.

Audio Mix is not the same as mute

Recent iPhones show an Audio Mix button in the Photos editor for videos recorded with Spatial Audio. It changes how the recorded sound is mixed: In-Frame reduces voices and sounds from sources outside the frame, Studio reduces background noise and reverb, and Cinematic puts voices on a front-facing track. None of these options removes the audio. Use the speaker icon when you want the video silent.

Turning off the sound also doesn’t remove anything you can see, such as people talking on camera or captions burned into the picture.