Oliver Haslam·

How To Enable iOS 11 HEIF / HEVC Feature On iPhone And iPad

Here’s how to enable iOS 11 HEIF and HEVC feature for photos and videos on compatible iPhone and iPad devices.

Now that Apple’s iOS 11 is out and anyone with a compatible iPhone or iPad can install it, those who do so can take advantage of the impressive HEIF and HEVC codecs both of which mean photos and videos on those devices now take up less space while still managing to improve their quality. In a world where we all install more and more apps, and we use our iPhones as our primary video and image capture devices, every little bit of saved storage comes is helpful.

Both HEVC and HEIF debut as part of the iOS 11 update and both offer similar things in that content created in those formats take up to 50% less space on-device than previous formats used by Apple’s iPhones and iPads. Apple claims that quality of photos and videos is unaffected, and even improves in some cases.

That means that there is absolutely no reason not to take advantage of either format, but Apple did include an option to disable or enable them if a user so wishes. The option is turned off by default but it is not quite hidden. If you don’t know where to look though it may be difficult to find. In any case, it’s OK as we’re here to tell you where to head and enable it.

Before we do that though, you may want to check your iOS device’s compatibility with this new format here: HEVC And HEIF Device Compatibility In iOS 11, macOS High Sierra as not all devices support this feature.

If you want to disable or enable HEIF and HEVC encoding for photos and videos, head on over to the Settings app, then choose Camera > Formats. Here you will find a couple of options. High Efficiency enables the new formats whilst the Most Compatible option turns them off. We’ll let you decide which to opt for but we do have our devices set for the first option – make of that what you will.

Apple’s iOS 11 is available to download now for iPhones and iPads and will ship on the new iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus this Friday, and on iPhone X in November.

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