You may love the Live Photo you took, but what if the still image that shows up in your Library isn't the best frame? Don't worry, you can designate any frame as the key photo that appears when the Live Photo isn't playing. Here's how to extract frames from Live Photos and set them as key frames.

Why You'll Love This Tip

Select a frame from a Live Photo that shows the subject better.
Make sure you always get the perfect shot by choosing from any Live Photo frame.

How to Pick a Still from a Live Photo on iPhone & iPad

System Requirements

This tip was performed on an iPhone running iOS 26 and works on iPhones running iOS 16 or later. Find out how to update to the latest version of iOS.

Selecting a still from a Live Photo on iPhone can be done in two ways. The first is to duplicate a live image and convert the Live Photo to a still. However, that method doesn’t allow you to select a frame from a Live Photo to convert to a still shot. For more great lessons about how to edit photos on an iPhone, check out our free Tip of the Day. Now, here's how to select a frame from a Live Photo:

Open the Photos app.
Find the Live Photo that you want to convert. The easiest way to find Live Photos is to scroll down to Media Types in the Collections tab.
Once you've found the right Live Photo, tap Edit or the editing icon in iOS 18 or later.
Tap the Live Photo icon.
Tap and hold the white frame to drag it left and right, and select a new Key Photo.
Tap Make Key Photo.
Tap Done.

That's how to edit a Live Photo and choose a new key image. If you want to know how to convert all Live Photos to still on iPhone, you will unfortunately need to go through each photo one by one, or turn off Live Photos in the Settings app. Next, find out how to save a Live Photo as a video on your iPhone or iPad.