How to pause video and write on it

Part One

You can use an app such as MovieMarkup, available on the App Store. Help on usage is available in-app from both the documents window and the editing window. There is also user guide available as a PDF on their website. I suggest exploring the app to see what to click, what to click and hold, and what to click, hold and slide to bring up various options, menus, tools and tool functions. Although the UI is fairly intuitive, experimenting will help you become familiar with the app’s paradigms.

If you plan to use Airplay and Screen Mirroring to an external AirPlay 2 capable device such as Apple TV connected to an HDTV display, you have two options: mirror the iPad screen:

…or more likely, AirPlay the video content with markups from the MovieMarkup editing window:

Although you always have the option of minimizing tools and the timeline and expanding the video while the video is playing if not using AirPlay:

You can mirror the iPad screen from Control Center. Once your video is loaded in MovieMarkup’s editing window, and Screen Mirroring is connected, you can AirPlay the video by returning to the Home screen and then expanding the MovieMarkup app window again. A pop-up message to select the external display size should appear. Select it to AirPlay the video loaded into the editing window:

The advantage of mirroring the iPad’s display only is that you can watch the video on your iPad as it’s playing. The disadvantage of course is not only is the iPad’s aspect ratio different from the external display’s, the external display shows everything visible on the iPad’s screen. The advantage of additionally using AirPlay is that the video content with markups fills the external display. The disadvantage is that you can’t watch the video playing on the iPad’s screen. What you’ll see is a still frame in the editing window from when the video was last paused. When you pause the playing video again, the still frame changes to the current pause point, which you can then markup.

iPad Pro (12.9-inch) (3rd generation), iPadOS 13.4.1, Apple Pencil 2nd generation, Apple TV 4K.

Part Two

Things to note:

Although the app has been stable for me, you may want to be conservative and not run any other apps concurrently, turn on Do Not Disturb, don’t run any searches, etc.

If importing video from the Photos app, I suggest downloading the video to your iPad from within the Photos app before using MovieMarkup. You can do this by expanding the video and clicking Edit. The video will download. Once downloaded click cancel and quit Photos. If you try importing a video from Photos while it is still in the cloud it will take a long time to load before being compressed by MovieMarkup.

Unless you plan exporting a video with markups, or returning to an earlier point in the video with markups, you may want to delete the markups before returning to play from the paused video. Although you can click the undo tool’s button multiple times, it’s faster to use the eraser tool with the erase whole strokes option toggled on.

There is a simulated laser tool available, selectable from the apple button in the upper right in the editing screen when screen mirroring. When using AirPlay another arrow head shaped tool should appear. Click once to engage, click another tool to disengage.

Although you can markup with your finger only, using the Apple Pencil brings added precision as well the ability to use both stylus and touch.

Ideally, use a video aspect ratio and pixel dimension the same as the external display such as 16:9, 1920 x 1080.

With the zoom tool selected you can double tap the video with your finger to centre and move the the video to the sheet extents should your video slide out of place in the editing window.

Pause the video using the stop button instead of the pause button; I’ve found it is more accurate to sync the frame the video is paused on between the iPad and the external display.

Although I haven’t used every single tool, I believe they are all available for use in the app and some are only restricted by in-app purchases when exporting a video with markups.

If you find a recurring need for a particular markup you’ve created, you can select it using the select tool and add it to the symbols tool for reuse. Any markup you can create can become a symbol. When using it as a symbol, you can resize, rotate and move it with its selection handles:

iPad Pro (12.9-inch) (3rd generation), iPadOS 13.4.1, Apple Pencil 2nd generation, Apple TV 4K.

No.

This has never been possible.

You could freeze/pause the video, make a screenshot and find an app that can write on top of the video screenshot images.

There are lots of write on photos/images apps in the iOS App Store.

Two I use are Skitch and Snap Markup.

Other than this, there has never been any apps or ways/procedures to do what you want to do with iPads/iOS/iPadOS.

Sorry.

Even with a professional video editor there’s no way to do that. Beyond tricking it by doing what Michael said. Stop the video, make a screen cap, drag it out, use a program to write on it...not live write, but putting words over the frozen screen cap, then going back to the video. Basically since the video stops with the last image/frame, it tricks your mind into thinking the video is paused.

Pausing a video, no, there is no settings for that.

Niiiice!!!!

Thanks Michel, it was a good find. The more I use the app the more I'm impressed with its advanced features and ease of use; it's an incredible value and deserves more promotion.