Mobile Screen Capture

This guide demonstrates how to capture images and record video from your iOS mobile device.

Taking Screenshots

By pressing the Home button and Power button you can quickly capture a screenshot on any iOS device. The image shows up in your Photos app.

Record Video on Device

• Add screen record button to Control Center (Shown when you swipe up).
  • Settings > Control Center > Customize Controls
  • Include Screen Recording in the list
• Press record and wait for the 3 sec countdown to begin
• Interact with device and press stop when done
• The video will be saved as an MP4 in your Photos. You can Edit (trim) video before or after transfering to your computer.
• Transfer your video via USB, iCloud, Dropbox, etc to a computer as needed.

Record Video While Tethered to Computer

• Connect mobile device running iOS to computer via USB Lightning Cable.
• Launch QuickTime Player
• Choose File > New Movie Recording
• Click the small arrow next to the record button and choose Camera and Microphone to be your device. You may need to unlock your device before the screen shows up. If your camera or microphone doesn't show up, you may need to goto Security & Privacy in System Preferences and enable Microphone access for QuickTime Player as shown here.
• Press red/grey record button to begin video capture. Adjust volume as needed. Note some applications, such as Music, don't send audio.
• Save MOV file.

You can convert any kind of video file to gif as shown below using a tool shown in Making Animated Gifs. This workflow is useful for documenting and sharing mobile based projects and experiments.