Apple Adds ASMR Videos To The’Shot on iPhone’ Series

Apple has a YouTube series called “Shot on iPhone”, which the company uses to showcase the video capabilities of its smartphones. Recently, the company  added four new videos to its “Shot on iPhone” series on the platform and, while that might not be news in itself, these videos are not the usual videos Apple normally posts: they’re sensory meridian response videos, or ASMR, as they are more commonly known. 

ASMR, for those of you who haven’t encountered it yet, is described as an experience that gets individuals to feel static-like sensations across their scalp, back of the neck in response to certain audio and visual stimuli.

It’s enough to type in a search on YouTube using the term and you’ll be flooded with results: some ASMR channels count as many as 2 million subscribers. A lot of the comments that accompany the videos usually mention that the sounds helped them relax or even fall asleep. 

Apple’s videos range from six to 11 minutes and, while they tout that you can make ASMR videos just by using an iPhone XS and an XS Max, the company does mention that “additional software and professional hardware” had been used to create them. 

The videos were shot by director Anson Fogel, who has been responsible for other video Apple advertisements in the past and they are described as “Season 1”, which suggests that, if Apple gets the response they want, they will consider releasing another series. 

Each video focuses on a specific sound popular in the ASMR community such as whispering or walking through the forest across a path filled with crunchy autumn leaves and even a wood worker carving; Apple mentions that the videos are “best enjoyed with headphones”. 

If you’re curious to have a listen or are actually into these sort of videos, check out the videos below and tell us what you think about Apple’s ASMR efforts.