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How to make a horizontal video vertical on iPhone
If the subject stays in one place, the Photos app is enough: open the video, tap Edit, tap the crop tool, choose the 9:16 preset and drag the frame over the subject. If the subject moves — someone walking, a speaker who shifts in their seat — one fixed crop will lose them, and you need auto-reframe, which moves the crop to follow the subject through the clip. In Talk that is Reframe, a Pro feature that tracks faces and the most prominent subject on the device.
The steps
- Decide whether a fixed crop will do Play the clip and watch the subject. A 9:16 crop of a 16:9 video keeps only about a third of the width. If the subject moves further than that, one fixed crop will cut them off.
- For a still subject, crop in Photos Open the video in Photos, tap Edit, tap the crop tool, then the aspect-ratio button, and choose 9:16. Drag the frame over the subject and tap Done. It is free, and the edit can be reverted later.
- For a moving subject, turn on Reframe In Talk, select the clip, tap Reframe, switch on Auto-Reframe and choose Portrait (9:16). Talk analyses the clip on the device and moves the crop to follow faces, or the most prominent subject when nobody is in shot. Typing “make it vertical” in the prompt bar reframes every clip at once.
- Set the camera smoothing Camera Smoothing runs from Responsive, which follows quick movement closely, to Smooth, which moves like a camera operator and ignores small shifts. The default sits toward Smooth, which suits most talking-head footage.
- Check the edges, then export Scrub the moments when two people speak at once or the subject leaves the frame — a crop can only follow one place at a time. Keep captions and text toward the middle, away from the areas each app covers with its buttons.
How much of the frame each ratio keeps
Cropping a landscape video always throws picture away; the only question is how much. From a standard 16:9 video, keeping the full height:
| 9:16 — Reels, TikTok, Shorts | Keeps 32% of the width. Full-screen on a phone, and the least forgiving: a two-person shot almost never survives as one crop. |
|---|---|
| 4:5 — Instagram feed | Keeps 45% of the width. Taller than square, so it takes up more of the feed, while losing noticeably less than 9:16. |
| 1:1 — square | Keeps 56% of the width. The safest crop when there are two people in shot. |
When two people share a landscape frame, consider cutting between them instead of searching for one crop that fits both. Each of them gets a full-height vertical shot, and the result looks deliberate rather than cramped.
Ways to make a video vertical on iPhone
| Method | Follows a moving subject | Ratios | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Photos app crop | No, one fixed crop | 9:16, square and other presets | Free, built in |
| Talk — Reframe | Yes: faces, or the most prominent subject, with adjustable smoothing | 9:16, 1:1, 4:5, 4:3, 16:9 | Talk Pro |
| CapCut — Auto reframe | Yes | Several presets | CapCut Pro, sometimes with a trial |
| iMovie for iPhone | No | No aspect-ratio setting; horizontal footage stays horizontal | Free |
As of October 2026. Check the current App Store listing before paying for a reframing tool.
Frequently asked questions
How do I change a video from landscape to portrait on iPhone?
Crop it to 9:16. In the Photos app, open the video, tap Edit, tap the crop tool, choose the 9:16 preset, drag the frame over the subject and tap Done. That is one fixed crop for the whole clip, so it works when the subject stays in roughly one place.
Will rotating a video make it vertical?
No. Rotating turns the picture on its side, so the people in it end up sideways. To make a landscape video fill a vertical screen you have to crop it, which means choosing which part of the frame to keep.
What aspect ratio should I use for Reels, TikTok and Shorts?
9:16, which is 1080 × 1920 pixels at full HD. For an Instagram feed post, 4:5 takes up more of the screen than a square while cropping less of a landscape video than 9:16.
How much of the picture does a vertical crop lose?
About two thirds. A 9:16 crop of a 16:9 video keeps 32% of the original width; a 4:5 crop keeps 45% and a square crop keeps 56%.
Can I make a whole project vertical at once?
In Talk, yes. Type “make it vertical” in the prompt bar and every clip is reframed to 9:16, or turn on Reframe clip by clip. Reframed clips always share one aspect ratio.
Is auto-reframe free in Talk?
No. Reframe is part of Talk Pro. The free tier includes captions, silence removal, face blur and 1080p export with no watermark, and for a single shot where the subject stays put, the free crop in the Photos app does the job.