How to Make a Split Screen Video on iPhone (2026)

By Jimmy, developer of ContentCam · 4 November 2026 · Updated 5 November 2026

How you make a split screen video on iPhone depends on whether both halves already exist. To film your face and the view at the same moment, record with ContentCam's Front & Back mode and use its Combine button to turn the take into a 50/50 split. Front & Back works on any iPhone running iOS 18, including iPhone 15 and iPhone 16, which don't have Apple's Dual Capture. To join two clips already in Photos, use iMovie, Apple's free editor: add the second clip as an overlay and choose Split Screen.

Disclosure: I build ContentCam. Other apps' facts were checked against their own App Store listings and support pages on 5 November 2026.

How do you record a split screen video on iPhone while filming?

Record the front and back cameras together, then lay them out as a split. The iPhone Camera app has no split screen mode.

ContentCam Front & Back, then Combine. ContentCam records the selfie camera and the rear camera at the same time and saves each as its own file. Since version 2.8, the iPhone app's Combine button turns a Front & Back take into one video, picture-in-picture or a 50/50 split. A vertical rear shot gives a 1080×1920 video split top and bottom; a horizontal rear shot gives a 1920×1080 video split side by side. The two original files stay untouched, so you can pick a different layout later. The first 5 Front & Back recordings are free; unlimited recordings and saving a Combine video need Premium. No ads and no watermark on either tier.
Snapchat Dual Camera. Snap's newsroom post of 29 August 2022 lists four layouts: vertical, horizontal, picture in picture and cutout. The vertical and horizontal layouts are split screens, fixed when you record. More in how to take a Snap with the front and back camera.
Apple Dual Capture. Built into the Camera app on the models in the table. Apple's guide describes the front camera as "a window in the top-left of the frame", so Dual Capture is picture-in-picture, not a split. Details in which iPhones have Dual Capture, and where it stops.

Recording route	Split screen?	Change layout after recording?	iPhones	Ads
ContentCam Front & Back + Combine	Yes, 50/50 or picture-in-picture	Yes, front and rear kept as two files	Any iPhone on iOS 18 (XS, XR and newer)	None
Snapchat Dual Camera	Yes, vertical or horizontal	No, one combined Snap	iPhone XS, XS Max, XR or later	Contains Advertising
Apple Dual Capture	No, front camera window only	No, one video	iPhone 17, 17 Pro, 17 Pro Max, Air, 18 Pro, 18 Pro Max, Duo	None

How do you make a split screen video on iPhone with iMovie?

From Apple's guide Add video overlay effects in iMovie on iPhone, checked 5 November 2026 against iMovie 3.0.6, which is free:

Open iMovie and start a movie project with the first clip. This becomes the main clip in the timeline.
Scroll the timeline so the playhead, the white vertical line, sits where the second clip should start.
Tap the Add Media button, tap Video, choose a category, then tap the second video.
Tap the More button and tap Split Screen.

By default "the two clips appear side by side, equal in size". Tap the split screen clip in the timeline so it outlines in yellow, then use the viewer controls: Swap puts one clip above the other, Line adds or removes the dividing line, and Zoom Control lets you pinch and drag to choose which part of a clip shows. Trim the second clip to set how long the split lasts.

How do you make a split screen video on iPhone with CapCut?

In CapCut you build the split by hand with the Overlay tool. CapCut's own guide How to Add Overlays on CapCut (checked 5 November 2026) gives the steps: add your background video, tap Overlay, select the second video and tap Add overlay, then pinch to resize it and drag to position it. Size the background clip to the top half of the frame and the overlay to the bottom half, or left and right for a widescreen video. CapCut is free to download; its App Store listing shows subscriptions from US$7.99 a month and says Contains Advertising.

Should a split screen be top and bottom or side by side?

Top and bottom for TikTok, Reels and Shorts; side by side for YouTube.

Finished video	Split	Each half	Shape of each half
9:16 vertical, 1080×1920	Top and bottom	1080×960	Close to square, room for a face or a product
9:16 vertical, 1080×1920	Side by side	540×1920	A tall sliver, too narrow for most shots
16:9 wide, 1920×1080	Side by side	960×1080	Slightly tall, fits a person standing or a phone screen
16:9 wide, 1920×1080	Top and bottom	1920×540	A thin letterbox strip

On a vertical split, put the half that matters most on top. TikTok, Reels and Shorts lay the caption, username and buttons over the bottom of the frame, so the lower half is the one that gets covered.

How do you fix the audio on a split screen video?

Keep one clip's audio and set the other clip's volume to zero in iMovie or CapCut. Two clips filmed in the same room carry the same sound a fraction of a second apart, which plays as an echo. If both halves were recorded together, keep the microphone that was closer to the person talking.

Common questions

Can you split screen two videos on iPhone without an app? The Photos app has no split screen tool; iMovie is Apple's free option.

Does Dual Capture do split screen? No. Apple documents Dual Capture as the front camera in a window over the rear camera's view, saved as one video.

Can you record a split screen video on iPhone 15 or iPhone 16? Yes, with an app. Dual Capture isn't on iPhone 15 or iPhone 16, but ContentCam's Front & Back mode and Snapchat Dual Camera both run on them. More in recording front and back on iPhone 15 and 16.

Can you split screen on Android? Yes, with CapCut's Overlay tool, which works the same way on Android. To record both cameras, ContentCam's Front & Back mode runs on Android phones whose camera can use front and rear at once, and its Combine editor turns the two files into a split screen; see recording front and back at the same time on Android.

Try ContentCam free. Front & Back mode records your face and the view at the same time, and Combine turns them into a split screen or picture-in-picture. On iPhone and Android.