The iPhone 16 models have a hidden feature that gives you more control over how your videos sound. And that’s thanks to Spatial Audio capture, which uses all four built-in microphones on your iPhone during a video recording. I’ll show you how to use it.
Edit iPhone Audio in Videos Using Audio Mix
Audio Mix is a tool you’ll find in the native Photos app when you try to edit a video clip. However, you’ll need an iPhone 16 or iPhone 16 Pro to access this new tool. More importantly, you should be recording with Spatial Audio enabled to use Audio Mix.
Out of the box, all iPhone 16 models capture video with Spatial Audio turned on. However, if you’ve messed with the camera settings, go to Settings > Camera > Record Sound and check if Spatial Audio is selected.
Now, launch the Photos app and follow these steps to use the Audio Mix feature on your iPhone 16 or iPhone 16 Pro:
- Find the video clip you want to edit and tap the Edit option at the bottom (located next to the Info (i) icon).
- Select Audio Mix from the options that appear. If you don’t see it, you likely recorded the video without Spatial Audio enabled.
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By default, you’ll see Standard as the selected option, which is how you’d typically expect an iPhone video recording to sound. However, you can swipe left and choose from one of the other three options:
- In-Frame: This mode lowers sounds from sources that don’t appear in the frame of the shot.
- Studio: This mode minimizes background sounds and reverb to make the footage sound like you recorded it in a professional studio environment.
- Cinematic: This mode keeps the environmental sounds but lifts the voices in the frame to make it sound like a movie.
- You can play the clip to see if you like it and also use the slider below it to adjust the intensity of the Audio Mix effect.
- When you’re satisfied with the result, tap Done in the top-right corner to apply the changes.
It’s that easy to use the Audio Mix tool in the Photos app with videos recorded using Spatial Audio on your iPhone. The results may not always be perfect, but it usually gets the job done.
You’ll get better results on the iPhone 16 Pro models since they have four studio-quality microphones with a higher signal-to-noise ratio.
I find it most helpful when I’m shooting a vlog and want to cut the background noise quickly before sharing it on social media. Thanks to Audio Mix and other editing tools in Apple Photos, I don’t have to rely much on third-party video editing apps anymore.
Yes, there are still video editing features I wish the Photos app had, but I’m thankful it offers some basic and easy-to-use tools to make some quick edits. After all, not everybody wants to dig into a full-fledged editor whenever they want to post a video on Instagram, YouTube, or TikTok.
