How To Loop A Video On Your iPhone

If you've been lurking on TikTok (at this point, who doesn't?), then chances are you're also annoyed at your feed for one thing: videos automatically looping. Some content creators do use the loop feature in witty and entertaining ways, but most of the time, you probably just turn on the auto-scroll feature to stop the clips from repeating.

While auto-looping on videos can be the bane of your existence on social media apps, it can actually come in handy in some instances. Maybe you need to play your product's ad in a trade show booth, or perhaps you're teaching your friend how to fix their computer via a tutorial you recorded. In such cases, having the videos play on repeat would be more convenient for you.

If you want to automatically loop a video on your iPhone, there are some ways to do so without using any video editor apps. We'll walk you through two easy methods, plus a quick guide on how to loop a YouTube video from the mobile app.

For years, iPhone's Photos app didn't come with an option to put a single video on repeat. That, however, changed since the iOS 18 release. Videos now automatically loop by default. All you have to do is update to the latest iOS version, open your video of choice in the Photos app, and watch away. The video will repeatedly play until you pause it.

If you're not a fan of this new iOS 18 feature in the iPhone Photos app, you can choose to turn it off. Here's how:

1. Launch the Settings app.
2. Scroll down to Apps.
3. Select Photos.
4. Under Albums, toggle off the Loop Videos option.

Unfortunately, you can't stop looping for just a single watch session. That means you'll need to go into Settings every single time to turn on or off the Loop Videos toggle. However, you can use iPhone's Shortcuts to make the process easier for you. Here's how:

1. Open Shortcuts.
2. Make a new shortcut by tapping on the plus icon in the upper right corner.
3. Expand the Search Actions panel.
4. Select Safari.
5. Choose Open URLs from the available actions.
6. Tap the faint URL field.
7. Type prefs:root=Photos.
8. Press the Open URLs name at the top.
9. Select Rename.
10. Enter a more descriptive name for the shortcut. Say, Open Photos Settings.
11. (Optional) Change the shortcut icon by pressing the Safari icon at the top and setting a new icon.
12. Hit Done to save the shortcut.

You can then add this new shortcut to the Control Center or your home screen for easier access.

Google Photos is one of the best apps for backing up your photos and videos and browsing through your local media. It works similar to iPhone Photos but with one edge: you can activate and deactivate auto-looping without leaving the app. Here's a quick guide on how to set up Google Photos on your iPhone:

1. Install Google Photos from the App Store.
2. Open the app.
3. Sign in to your Google account.
4. (Optional) Set up backup.
5. Give Google Photos full access to your library.

All your iPhone photos and videos should automatically load onto the app. Find the clip you want to play by going to the Search tab on the bottom and selecting Videos. Once you open it, it will auto-loop forever until you pause or exit.

To switch the looping off, simply press the loop icon (two arrows forming a circle) in the bottom right of the video, next to the video timeline. This will then stay off even after you exit the first clip and open a new one. You can easily enable auto-loop again by tapping the same icon.

If the video you want to loop on your iPhone is a YouTube clip instead of a local media, here's what you need to do to put it on repeat:

1. Open the video you want to watch on the YouTube app.
2. (Optional) Set the clip to full-screen mode.
3. Tap the gear icon in the top-right corner of the screen.
4. Go to Additional settings.
5. Press the toggle next to Loop video to turn it on.

The video will loop endlessly even if you have Auto-play enabled. If you change your mind within the first few seconds, there's a pop-up that appears on the bottom where you can easily switch the feature back off. Otherwise, you'd have to go back into the settings page to deactivate auto-looping. Keep in mind that whatever setting you used last will remain for the other videos you watch from then on. You can't turn on or off auto-looping for just one video.