This hidden iPhone feature can significantly improve the audio quality of videos

If you have an iPhone 16 or later, you can significantly improve the audio quality of videos with the Audio Mix feature. Using different recording options, you can then adjust the mix to make the audio more faithful to what you heard. While the iPhone 18 Pro models have an additional feature that lets you solo music in addition to vocals, all other users can take advantage of audio mixing.

In the Photos app, open a video, tap Settings, then Audio Mixer. Apple offers four different ways to enjoy sound from your recorded videos: Standard, In-Frame, Studio, and Cinematic. In Standard mode, you get audio exactly as it was recorded; In-Frame reduces the sound of anything not visible in the video frame (meaning that if someone is speaking off-screen, the sound will be less visible, or even disappear altogether); the Studio option reduces background noise and reverb, making it look like it was made in a professional studio; and Cinematic puts voices in the foreground and moves environmental noises to the background, like audio in movies.

iPhone users also have a slider that they can use to increase or decrease the effect and background noise to make the recording sound better. Once they’ve finished editing the audio, they can save the video to apply the changes.

While iPhone 16 and iPhone 17 users can enjoy Audio Mix, Apple has outdone itself with the iPhone 18 Pro, which features an all-new camera system with new shooting capabilities and improved audio. This new phone features a new 48 MP Fusion main camera, as well as a variable aperture that gives users more control over their shots. The camera can adjust automatically, but Apple for the first time offered manual controls (aka Pro controls), which can produce more interesting photos in low light or when someone is in the back of group photos, making them sharper.

For video capabilities, Apple now allows users to apply cinematic effects to videos captured at up to 60 FPS. In Time-lapse, videos can be recorded in 4K and Dolby Vision HDR. Audio Mix also features a new proprietary algorithm for higher quality voices that can isolate music from people speaking.

The iPhone 18 Pro Camera app now offers more settings, allowing users to adjust lens aperture, shutter speed, white balance, or even use a histogram to check exposure levels. Finally, Apple presented its new Reference Image protocol, which allows you to check, with built-in privacy, whether a photo taken on the iPhone has been digitally manipulated or faithfully represents what was shown. This feature is currently exclusive to the iPhone 18 Pro, but it could be a powerful tool for journalists and others trying to tell stories without being questioned about the veracity of the photo. That being said, if you own an iPhone 18 Pro, there are other settings you need to change besides adding an Apple reference image.