How to take photos of the northern lights on an iPhone comes down to three things: using Night mode correctly, keeping the phone absolutely steady, and shooting in a dark place away from city lights. With a bit of setup, your iPhone (especially iPhone 12 and newer) can capture auroras far better than your eyes can see.

Quick Scoop

  • Use Night mode with a longer exposure time and turn flash off.
  • Stabilize your iPhone with a tripod or solid surface to avoid blurry green smears.
  • Get away from light pollution and let the camera “see” faint auroras even if they look weak to you.

Core iPhone Camera Setup

  • Open the Camera app and switch to Photo mode, then activate Night mode (available on iPhone 12 and newer). Night mode usually turns on automatically in low light, but you can tap the night icon and slide it to increase the exposure time (e.g., 5–10 seconds).
  • Turn flash completely off, not just Auto; flash will blow out foregrounds and annoy everyone around you.
  • Start with the 1x lens (main camera), which handles low light best; avoid ultra‑wide unless the aurora is very bright.

Stability, Exposure, and Focus

  • Mount your phone on a tripod or wedge it on a rock, backpack, or car roof; even tiny shakes ruin long‑exposure aurora shots.
  • Use the Night mode slider to set a longer shutter time, then take a test shot; if it looks too bright or washed out, reduce the exposure time slightly and try again.
  • Tap and hold on the sky to lock focus and exposure (AE/AF Lock), then gently press the shutter or use a timer (3–10 seconds) so you don’t shake the phone.

Location, Timing, and Real‑World Tips

  • Move away from street lights, cars, and houses; dark, open areas like lakeshores or fields make the aurora pop.
  • Even when auroras look faint to your eyes at lower latitudes, Night mode often reveals intense bands and colors in the photo, so keep shooting test frames as activity changes.
  • If your phone supports it, enable RAW capture or “Pro” modes; RAW keeps more detail and gives you more flexibility when editing greens and purples later.

Forum‑Style Wisdom & Trending Context

“iPhones are actually really good for auroras – the camera’s Night mode kicks in automatically, and the phone sees way more than your eyes do.”

  • Recent geomagnetic storms (like those in 2024–2025) have pushed auroras farther south, so many first‑timers have been getting strong shots with nothing but an iPhone and a cheap tripod.
  • Common community advice: keep expectations realistic, shoot lots of frames, and embrace silhouettes (mountains, cabins, people) to add story and scale to the sky.

TL;DR: For “how to take photos of northern lights on iPhone,” use Night mode with a longer exposure, flash off, a stable tripod, dark skies, and lots of quick test shots to dial in brightness and sharpness.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.