iPhone cameras have much greater capabilities than the standard interface allows. A number of camera apps address this. One of the photographer/testers during the 18 month development, Om Malik has given an enthusiastic thumbs up to Halide Mark II - if you have a newer iPhone it may be the best choice even though it's expensive at ten bucks a year or thirty as a one time purchase.
From Sweden last week. If you've ever seen an aurora in person, the time lapse videos just don't cut it. One of the reasons they're popular is light gathering,... you can do long 10 second or so exposures per frame and use cameras that aren't good in low light photography. Now amateur cameras are good enough to begin to capture them in real time. Still not what some pro equipment can do, but people like Mia Stålnacke are doing great work. She also does great aurora still photography.
Smartphone cameras have made such dramatic improvements that very good photographers are now in a place where they happen to have a camera with them all the time.