You check the phone after an hour and the recording ended at minute 23. It happens, and almost always for one of a handful of reasons. iPhone has no fixed time limit on video recording, so something else stopped it.
1. The app left the screen
Swiping home, switching apps, or tapping a notification that opens another app ends a video recording in any app. iOS only lets the app on screen use the camera. There is more in Can an iPhone record video in the background?
Fix: stay in the recording app. A Focus that silences notifications, or airplane mode, leaves fewer things to tap by accident.
2. The phone locked
A locked iPhone cannot record video. The Camera app keeps the phone awake while it records, but not every app does — and pressing the side button by accident locks the phone anyway.
Fix: use an app that keeps the phone awake, and keep your hand off the side button. A stand helps.
3. A phone call came in
An incoming call takes over the phone’s audio, and it usually ends the recording.
Fix: turn on airplane mode before you start.
4. The phone got too hot
Long recordings, 4K, direct sun, charging while recording and a thick case all add heat. Past a point, iOS steps in to protect the phone, and the recording ends.
Fix: record at 1080p rather than 4K, keep the phone out of the sun, and take it out of a thick case.
5. Storage ran out
Video takes gigabytes per hour. When space runs low, a recording has to stop.
Fix: check free space in Settings → General → iPhone Storage before you start.
6. The battery died
Obvious once it happens. The less obvious part: if the phone shuts down mid-recording, whether you get a usable file depends on how the app writes it.
Fix: start charged, and bring a power bank.
7. Something else took the camera
Another app claiming the camera, or a system error, can also interrupt capture. It is rare, but it happens.
Getting the file back
If the recording stopped cleanly, the file is fine up to that point. If the app was ended without warning — a crash, a dead battery — it depends on whether the app wrote the video in fragments as it went. How to record a long video on iPhone without losing the file explains the difference.
How NoLight handles each one
NoLight was built around this list:
- Leaving the app, a call, the camera being taken away: it stops and saves the recording straight away.
- Locking: it keeps the phone awake while recording.
- Heat: it warns you with a vibration when the phone gets hot, and stops and saves the recording if the phone reaches a critical temperature.
- Storage: it will not start with less than about a minute of space left, warns when fewer than five minutes remain, and stops with a margin to spare.
- Crashes and dead batteries: video is written in five-second fragments, so the file plays up to the last one.
Short answers
Does iPhone have a video recording time limit? No. Recordings stop because of storage, heat, battery, a call, locking or leaving the app.
Why did my video stop when I got a call? The call took over the audio and ended the recording. Airplane mode prevents it.
Why did recording stop when I opened another app? iOS only lets the app on screen use the camera.