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How to set a timer on your iPhone camera to take photos after a brief countdown

Hand holding an iPhone to take a picture of a building using the XR camera.
You can set a timer on your iPhone camera to take a picture without physically clicking the shutter. Sean Wolfe/Business Insider

  • Setting a self timer on your iPhone camera automatically takes photos after a countdown.
  • The camera will take a series of 10 burst photos – you can choose the ones to keep or delete.
  • You can set the timer to take a photo after three or 10 seconds.
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We've all been there — there's nobody around to take a picture of your group of friends at a special location or event. Fortunately, Apple has developed a solution to this with a simple feature on the iPhone.

The built-in self timer on your iPhone camera allows you to take photos without physically clicking the button. You can set a long or short countdown timer and your camera will snap 10 burst photos to give you the perfect shot.

Here's how to do it.

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How to set the timer on your iPhone camera

1. Open the Camera app on your iPhone.

2. Position your iPhone where you'd like the photo to be taken.

3. Tap the down arrow in the top center of the screen.

The Camera app on iPhone, with the down arrow highlighted.
Tap this down arrow. Stefan Ionescu/Insider

4. Drag the slider that appears at the bottom to the left and tap the clock icon.

The Camera app on iPhone, with the clock icon highlighted in the slider at the bottom.
Tap the clock icon in the slider. Stefan Ionescu/Insider

5. Next, select a countdown for the timer – you have two options: three or 10 seconds.

The Camera app on iPhone, with the timer options – Off, 3s, and 10s – highlighted in the slider at the bottom.
Set a timer for either three or 10 seconds. Stefan Ionescu/Insider

6. Tap the shutter button to start the self timer. If you want to stop the timer at any point, tap the stop button.

The Camera app on iPhone, with the stop button highlighted.
Tap the stop button if you want to stop the timer. Stefan Ionescu/Insider

7. Once the photo has been taken, open the Photos app. 

8. Tap the photo taken with the self timer to select it. 

9. Tap Select at the bottom – you will be shown 10 different burst images taken using the self timer.

The Photos app on iPhone, and it's showing a series of burst photos of a street taken with the self timer.
You'll see 10 burst photos taken with the self timer. Stefan Ionescu/Insider

10. Scroll through the images, and select the ones you want to keep by tapping on them. If you'd like to keep all of them, you can skip this step. 

11. Tap Done in the upper right-hand corner.

12. If you'd like to keep only the photos you selected, tap Keep Only # Favorites in the pop-up – the # is the number of photos you selected. Otherwise, tap Keep Everything.

The Photos app on iPhone, showing a pop-up with the options “Keep Only # Favorites” and “Keep Everything.” The pop-up appears when selecting which images to keep from a group of burst photos.
Choose which photos you want to keep – you can also keep them all. Stefan Ionescu/Insider
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