iPhones have finite storage capacity. But if you have an iPhone 15 Pro or later, Apple makes it possible to record videos directly to external storage devices so your iPhone’s storage doesn’t fill. Here’s how to record iPhone videos directly to an external drive.
Over the years, the minimum amount of storage on iPhones has steadily increased. The very first iPhone shipped with just 4GB of storage. The base model iPhone 17 now has 256GB of storage. But there are many people, like me, who have 128GB or less. And while storage has increased, the volume of data we store, particularly videos and photos, has grown even faster.
The iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max, all iPhone 16 Pro models and iPhone 17 Pro models can record video directly to an external storage device connected to a USB-C port. This does not happen by default so you’ll need to change a few settings.
Before you start, you’ll need an external USB-C drive that is formatted as exFAT. If you’re in doubt, plug the drive into your Mac and use Disk Utility to check the drive’s format and reformat it if necessary.
Next, you’ll need to change some settings on your iPhone. The first step is enabling Apple ProRes recording. To enable video recording to an external device on your compatible iPhone follow these steps.
- Open the Settings app, tap on Camera and then on Formats
- Turn on Apple ProRes under Video Capture
In the Camera app, once you switch to Video mode you’ll be able to change the recording code.
- Tap on the recording mode in the top-left corner (in the video below, you’ll see that mine starts at HD resolution and 30 frames per second)
- Choose one of the PRORES option. You’ll notice that in the top right corner you’ll see in an indication of how long you can record for based on the amount of available storage space.
Now, when you record iPhone videos they can be directed to the an external drive.
In the video below, you’ll notice that I go from having just a few minutes of recording capacity to almost 5 hours. That’s because I plugged my external drive in after making my recording format choice.
The drive I used has 512GB of capacity.
If you open the drive in the Files app on your iPhone or on a Mac or PC, you’ll see a folder called DCIM. Open that folder and then the 100APPLE folder inside that. That’s where you’ll find your videos.
Anthony is the founder of Australian Apple News. He is a long-time Apple user and former editor of Australian Macworld. He has contributed to many technology magazines and newspapers as well as appearing regularly on radio and occasionally on TV.