The Trick to Taking Night Mode Time-Lapses on Your iPhone 12, 12 Mini, 12 Pro, or 12 Pro Max

Good time-lapse videos capture cities, nature, and other long-running events in a way normal photos and videos simply can't. Your iPhone 12, 12 mini, 12 Pro, or 12 Pro Max can make time-lapses look even better, thanks to Night mode. But it isn't exactly intuitive or even clear on how to enable the feature since, unlike with Video mode, you won't find a Night mode icon to use.

Here's the secret: it's all in the stability of your iPhone. If iOS 14 senses that your iPhone isn't moving in low-light conditions, Night mode kicks in for the duration of your recording. That means you'll need a tripod, stand, gimbal, or some other method of stabilizing your iPhone for your time-lapse. Without it, iOS won't activate Night mode because of too much movement, resulting in a standard time-lapse.

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You can see the difference in the GIFs below.

• Left GIF: When you start a time-lapse in low light on a stable iPhone, Night mode will kick in. Then, when you move it around, you'll see a ton of motion blur caused by Night mode's low shutter speed. You can even see the image get brighter once you start the time-lapse. And if you move the camera for too long, iOS will turn off Night mode in the middle of the time-lapse.
• Right GIF: When you start a time-lapse in low light while holding your iPhone, i.e., there is some movement going on, the motion appears smooth, and that's because Night mode never activated.

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Unfortunately, these are the only indications that your time-lapse is or isn't in Night mode. Like the Time-lapse mode itself, you can only control the exposure compensation value, so you have no control over the shutter speed, the speed of the time-lapse, or the frame rate.

This feature works on all iPhone 12 cameras, including the selfie TrueDepth camera.

Cover image and GIFs by Jake Peterson/Gadget Hacks