Video Playback on iOS 18 is Broken - Video size is small and timeline ends early when setting video to full frame or zooming in. Serious bug.

Video Playback on iOS 18. I use video playback to show slow-motion video frame by frame to my students and the video can only be shown at like 3/5 of the screen size (just like Apple fouled up screenshot editing about a year ago)


If you try to view video in the full screen you can’t scrub through and see time stamps or play frame by frame sliding left to right. It’s absolutely ridiculous. 2 out of 3x the video timeline finishes fully right and I haven’t watched the full clip.


Here’s a video showing the issue how at the small default size I can see the entire timeline and play the full video from beginning to end, but when I go to full screen and/or zoom in or move the screen around the timeline doesn’t work and you can’t scroll through the full video!


Need the video to not condense in size on the screen and play the full height / width of the screen. Also not have the text of the location showing above the screen. Way too much clutter. The reduced size of the video for editing issue started with photos several updates ago



[Edited by Moderator]


iPhone 14 Pro, iOS 18

Posted on Sep 18, 2024 9:17 PM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Sep 22, 2024 3:52 PM

Here’s a YT video I made demonstrating the exact issue. Only posted a day ago and it has over 1,000 views and tons of comments. I’m happy other people are speaking out about how bad this iOS 18 update ruined Apple Photos and video playback and video usability. Apple please for the love of God fix this urgently. Whoever spearheaded the rollout should seriously be fired. Whoever approved it should also be fired!


Video of Issue


Please fix Apple Photos and iPhone videos urgently! They also should fix the editing / annotation of images. Taking a screenshot makes it tiny on the screen so if you you try to draw or type on it it’s the same nonsense of a tiny screen area. Editing any photo to draw or type on it shrinks the image on the screen. It should not be this way. Keep both images / photos and videos full screen. This is not an issue in any other app. It’s so bad it makes me wonder what the heck Apple is doing and how these people who are supposedly very bright tech wizards are employed there.

133 replies

Oct 24, 2024 10:45 AM in response to brentgrab

One other issue effecting videos with the ios 18. When we transfer our .mov videos to our W10/11 computer, they no longer have a thumbnail image, and no longer have video properties. We have hundreds of iphone .mov videos, all with thumbnail images and properties, but post ios 18, all videos have no properties nor images. But, they all play. Apple offers no fix or solutions.

Oct 26, 2024 7:31 AM in response to 305Pal

No one here has received any help or response from APPLE. They have not even acknowledged the various issues brought forth here. Is APPLE just ignoring these issues?


Read the terms of use you signed up to when you joined the forum. You are not talking to Apple here. This forum is users talking to other users. Don'r expect any reply from Apple here. Contact them directly.



Nov 1, 2024 11:35 AM in response to ios18_video_issue

ios 18 screwed up a lot of issues. Has everyone noticed that APPLE has not chimed in and offered any support. Nor have they acknowledged the many issues. Where is APPLE SUPPORT? >>> iPhone 14 ios 18 videos no longer transfer with properties nor thumbnail. We have hundreds of iPhone videos, all with properties and thumbnails. But starting around late Sept and early Oct. all videos transferred to our various computers W10/11, no longer have properties nor thumbnail images. They do all play however. We have hundreds of iPhone videos transferred to our computers over many years. All have properties and thumbnail images. Now, the videos have neither. Wondering if the last ios 18 updates did something to videos.

Nov 1, 2024 12:03 PM in response to Yer_Man

We are... Daily. That is getting no where, and seems they are ignoring all feedback. >>>> iPhone 14 ios 18 videos no longer transfer with properties nor thumbnail. We have hundreds of iPhone videos, all with properties and thumbnails. But starting around late Sept and early Oct. all videos transferred to our various computers W10/11, no longer have properties nor thumbnail images. They do all play however. We have hundreds of iPhone videos transferred to our computers over many years. All have properties and thumbnail images. Now, the videos have neither. Wondering if the last ios 18 updates did something to videos.

Nov 1, 2024 12:20 PM in response to brentgrab

UPDATE: in iOS 18.1 I was unable to play any videos for about 2 hours after the update. I guess it needed time to propogate. I was getting a circle progress loading bar most of the time or nothing and it would freeze and never play. After a couple of hours of waiting I’m able to play videos now. It does appear the bug of zooming in and scrolling and only being able to see 1 second of the video is fixed but it is still thet wretched scroll bar / scrubber and the small window. 2 positive updates in Photos are that you can finally drag your albums up an down to reorder them (albeit the functionality id a bit finnicky), and with their new AI you can type a description of photos/videos in Search and it retrieves items that match that query. This is very good. However the issue with video playback, small window, terrible scroll bar / scrubber, etc still exists, so please keep sending feedback to Apple on the links mentioned several times. Do it for both iPhone and for the Photos app. Search Apple feedback iPhone and Apple feedback photos and you’ll find the links on google.

Nov 1, 2024 12:54 PM in response to brentgrab

Neither is the following issue fixed nor corrected............... iPhone 14 .mov videos transferred to Windows computer no longer have a thumbnail image or data. But they play. This occurred after late September. All .mov videos prior to early Oct. 9th have data and thumbnail images. This is occurring on our two iPhone 14's, and multiple Windows 10 computers. We have changed nothing, including the process of transferring the videos from the iPhone to the Windows computer. The last video with data, and with a thumbnail is 09/26. The first video in Oct 9th, on to present day, has no thumbnail, not data (length, frame, etc.). I spoke with Apple support, did screen shots, and ended up with no answer or solution.

Nov 12, 2024 6:49 AM in response to brentgrab

According to this article Apple has reverted video playback functionality to open videos in full screen now. Clicking on the video simply shows and hides the scrollbar. According to the article the white thin scrollbar is still there and the much easier to use thumbnail scrubber is still no longer in the video playback area; only for edit mode I presume.


It will be interesting to see if at least in edit mode the video will remain full screen or reduce to a smaller window. I’m hoping it allows screenshots taken to stay in full screen while annotating, and previously saved screenshots to open in full screen from the Photos app. We shall see.


https://9to5mac.com/2024/11/11/ios-18-2-photos-app/

Nov 16, 2024 11:53 AM in response to steveblythe

Is "this" not Apple???


This is a user-to-user forum hosted by Apple. I'm sure you've read the terms of use you agreed to when you signed up and they explain it all. Users post queries about their Apple devices or Services and other Users offer what help and support they can. This is not an alternative to Apple Support. Responses posted here are not Apple answering, they do not represent Apple in anyway.


So, snark away by all means, it's your own time and effort you're wasting.

Nov 18, 2024 5:40 AM in response to brentgrab

I experienced the same!


Not only the video screen is way smaller but the frame by frame playback has just disappeared!! Now you have to tap in the middle of the screen to have it in full screen mode but doing so, you lose the play/pause bar so it’s completely useless and not working well.


Why the heck did Apple have decided to change that wonderful frame by frame feature is a complete mystery! And having the video not in full screen mode is awful.


A chance that I have an iPad Pro. I just can’t imagine using it on a smaller iPad or even worst, on an iPhone!!

Dec 11, 2024 11:00 AM in response to Platypus4

Getting a little carried away there platypus 🦆 lol.


Making it like they are some sort of savior and we are spewing hateful rhetoric. Get real.


Yes, as I’ve (already) mentioned, in 18.2 they partially “fix” the video going smaller during any sort of seeking/pause. However they have still abandoned the thumbnail scrubber at the bottom.


Enough of the distorted fanboy stuff and realize they did no one favors but allowing all users to deal with this for months. Tinkering with things for the heck of it is not prudent for any company. I hope a bunch of people did indeed already switch to Samsung.

Dec 28, 2024 12:50 PM in response to maccalvin5

Can’t believe it. Even in 18.2 there is still issues with erratic playback of slow mo video not showing the entire length of the video. Often I have to force close and come back into Apple Photos to play back a video and see its entire duration. About 1 out of every 3 times the video only plays a couple of seconds of the video no matter the length. How this is still broken is laughable.

Feb 5, 2025 1:37 AM in response to brentgrab

The updated “Photos App” has ruined the use of video playback. I use video playback on my phone everyday for my work, analyzing high performance athletes. Because when you record video you cannot go from 0.5-7x zoom you use hi-res and pitch and zoom while dragging through video.

For what ever reason someone decided to remove this feature, yet keep the ability on IpadOS 18.2.1 does allow this? How can the developers make this kind of mistake?


i am thankful i do not need to tap the correct miniature thumbnail at the bottom to open it up in order to drag through the video so there has been improvements, but why is IOS unable to keep the video scrolling feature while zooming but my 3rd gen iPad Air on IpadOS18 can?

I have discussed this with hundred of clients who all hate this bug

Video Playback on iOS 18 is Broken - Video size is small and timeline ends early when setting video to full frame or zooming in. Serious bug.

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