You shot a trip on your iPhone, dropped the clips into an editor and added a moody look. Half of them came out fine. The other half went grey, or too bright, or orange. The look wasn't the problem. Your clips weren't all the same kind of video, and an iPhone can record three kinds that each need different handling before any grading starts.
What kind of video did your iPhone record?
Check this before touching a single slider, because it decides the first step.
| Format | How you get it | What it looks like in an editor | First step |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard (SDR) | HDR Video turned off | Normal contrast and colour | Grade directly |
| HDR (Dolby Vision) | On by default on recent iPhones | Fine on the phone; flat, muted or blown out in an SDR project | Tone-map to Rec.709 |
| Apple Log | iPhone 15 Pro and later, ProRes or Final Cut Camera | Flat and grey | Apply the Apple Log conversion |
The HDR setting lives in Settings > Camera > Record Video > HDR Video. iPhone HDR video is Dolby Vision built on HLG, which is why it looks right on the phone and wrong in an editor set up for normal video. HLG to Rec.709 explains the conversion; Apple Log covers the log profile.
If you shoot mostly for social media and don't plan to grade much, turning HDR Video off saves you the conversion step. If you want the most room to grade, Apple Log gives you more highlight and shadow detail than either.
In what order should you grade iPhone footage?
The order is the same as for any camera, and it's what keeps a look consistent across clips:
- Convert. HDR to Rec.709, or Apple Log to Rec.709, because every later step assumes normal contrast. Skip this for standard video.
- Set exposure. Bring the brightest and darkest parts of the frame where they belong.
- Set white balance. Neutral things should look neutral. Skin is the easiest check, because everyone knows what skin should look like and a colour cast shows there first. Skin tones shows how to read it.
- Match the clips. Indoor and outdoor shots from the same day should feel like one video, so a cut between them doesn't jump.
- Add the look. A creative LUT or your own grade, at a strength that suits each clip.
Four of those steps have a correct answer. Only the last is taste. Color grading basics goes through each one.
Can you color grade video on the iPhone itself?
For simple fixes, yes. Open the clip in Photos, tap Edit, and the Adjust tools (exposure, highlights, shadows, contrast, saturation, warmth, tint and more) work on video the same way they do on photos. Filters add a quick look on top.
What the Photos app can't do is take a LUT, so you can't apply an Apple Log conversion or a creative .cube look there. Phone editors vary: some take custom LUTs, and some, like the CapCut mobile app, have filters only. CapCut LUTs covers where the desktop version differs.
Grading on the phone is fine for one clip going out today. For a whole shoot, a bigger screen and an editor that can apply the same correction to every clip save a lot of time.
How do you color grade iPhone video on a Mac?
| App | Converts HDR and Apple Log | Takes .cube LUTs | Good for |
|---|---|---|---|
| iMovie | Limited | No | Quick filters and colour balance |
| Final Cut Pro | Yes: camera LUT for Apple Log, HDR Tools for HDR | Yes | Editing and grading in one app |
| DaVinci Resolve | Yes: colour space transforms | Yes | Detailed grading with scopes |
In Final Cut Pro, Apple Log clips can take Apple's conversion as a camera LUT, and the HDR Tools effect converts HDR clips to Rec.709. In DaVinci Resolve, a Color Space Transform node does both. Final Cut Pro colour grading and DaVinci Resolve colour grading have the steps. iMovie has no LUT import at all; iMovie LUTs explains the workaround.
What are the common mistakes with iPhone footage?
- Putting a creative LUT straight onto Apple Log. Looks are built for converted footage. Convert first.
- Mixing HDR and SDR clips in one project without converting. The HDR clips look washed out or too bright next to the others.
- Grading one hero clip and pasting it everywhere at full strength. A look that's right on a bright beach is too heavy on a dim restaurant. Lower it per clip.
- Pushing saturation to fix flat footage. Flat usually means unconverted HDR or log. Convert, and most of the colour comes back without a saturation slider.
How do you grade a whole iPhone shoot at once?
A phone shoot is rarely five clips. It's forty clips and a hundred photos from the same day, and they all need the same conversion and the same look, at slightly different strengths.
BatchTone is a Mac app for that step. Drop in the folder and pick one .cube: the Apple Log conversion, an HDR to Rec.709 LUT or a creative look. Every clip and photo is previewed with it applied, each with its own strength slider, so the dim shots can take less than the bright ones. One export writes the set: video as H.264 MP4 with the audio copied untouched, photos as JPEG or PNG. It reads the iPhone's HEVC and ProRes files, 10-bit included, and HEIC photos. Originals are never written to and nothing is uploaded.
It runs on macOS 12 or later on Apple Silicon, with a seven-day trial that has everything unlocked, then one in-app purchase rather than a subscription.
Download BatchTone free on the Mac App Store
Common questions
Should I shoot HDR or SDR on iPhone for color grading?
For heavy grading, Apple Log keeps the most detail. Between HDR and SDR, HDR holds more highlight range but needs converting for SDR delivery. If the video goes straight to social media with light edits, SDR is the simplest.
Why does my iPhone video look washed out in my editor?
Usually because it's HDR (Dolby Vision) in a project set up for SDR, or Apple Log without its conversion. Convert it to Rec.709 and the contrast and colour come back.
Can I use LUTs on iPhone video?
Yes, in editors that import .cube files, such as Final Cut Pro and DaVinci Resolve on the Mac. Apple Log footage needs a conversion LUT first; standard iPhone video can take a creative LUT directly. iPhone LUTs lists which LUT does what.
Does the iPhone Photos app color grade video?
It does basic correction: exposure, contrast, saturation, warmth and a set of filters, applied to the whole clip. It doesn't import LUTs or convert Apple Log.
What is the best app to color grade iPhone video?
It depends on the job. Photos is enough for a quick fix on one clip. Final Cut Pro or DaVinci Resolve suit a full edit with a grade. For applying one LUT to a whole shoot of clips and photos, a batch tool like BatchTone is faster than any editor.