Taking a screenshot – a single still image of your device's screen, whether it is an – iPhone, Mac computer, or Apple Watch – is pretty easy. But if you're using an iPhone or iPad and wondering how to record your screen, the process might not be so obvious.
Luckily, taking a screen recording — a video of your iPhone or iPad's screen — is just as easy as traking a screenshot, once you know how to enable it.
Here's how to screen record on your iPhone or iPad, and then find the video once it's saved.
How to allow screen recordings on your iPhone and iPad
Before you can record your screen, you'll need to turn on the screen recording feature.
1. Open the Settings app and then tap Control Center.
2. Find Screen Recording. If it isn't already in the section labeled Included Controls, scroll down to the "More Controls" and tap the green plus sign next to it. You should see it move to the Included Controls section.
The Screen Recorder button will show a countdown (here it shows "2") after it's selected, allowing you to go to the app or screen you want to record.
Jason Cipriani/CNETRecord your screen
After adding the shortcut, you begin by opening Control Center. On iPhones older than the iPhone X ($265 at Amazon), get there by swiping up from the bottom of the screen. On newer iPhones, swipe down from the top-right corner of the screen.
Tap on the Screen Recording button, which will prompt a countdown inside the button followed by it turning red to indicate to begin capturing whatever's on your display.
You'll know when your screen is being recorded because there will either be a red bar across the top of your screen (on older iPhones) or the time will have a red highlight behind it (on newer iPhones). Tap on the red button or bar to stop recording.
With a long-press, you can opt to turn on audio recording so you can narrate your video.
Jason Cipriani/CNETSpice up a recording with audio
What if you want to walk someone through how to use a feature or get past a bug you keep running into? Well, you can turn on your phone's microphone and have it record for as long as a screen-recording session is active.
To turn it on, open the Control Center and long-press on the Screen Recording button. A new menu will show up, with a toggle to turn your microphone on at the bottom. Tap on the Microphone Audio button, it will turn red and then select Start Recording.
The Screen Recording button turns red when your screen is being captured.
Jason Cipriani/CNETOK, I made a recording... now what?
Once you stop recording, you'll be asked if you want to save the video to the Photos app. Open the Photos app to view, edit, crop, and share the video through Messages, email, or even post it to your favorite social network.