Screen recording is very useful for capturing and sharing things such as gameplay, tutorials, video calls and so on. Thankfully, Apple has made it easy to screen record on their iPhones.
Since iOS 11 (released 2017), the iPhone has had a native screen recording feature that allows you to record a video of what you’re doing on your phone without the need for a third-party app. However, you can still download and install a screen recording app if you want to access more screen recording settings and features.
In this article, we’re going to take a step-by-step look at how to screen record on your iPhone, and what other apps you can download to get the job done, in case you have an older iPhone model without native screen recording.
How to record the screen on an iPhone
If it’s your first time doing a screen recording on your phone, then you need to add it to your Control Centre before you can activate the feature.
To add ‘Screen Recording’ to your Custom Controls
- Go to settings
- Select ‘Control Centre’
- Tap on ‘Customize Controls’
- Tap the (+) button next to ‘Screen Recording’
Once this step is done, you will not have to do it again the next time you do a screen recording. You can easily access the option in the Control Centre.
To start screen recording on your iPhone
- Open the Control Center
- Tap the screen record icon (circle in a circle)
- Select ‘Start recording’
- Screen recording will start after the three-second countdown
- To stop recording, tap the screen record button in the Control Center again. Alternatively, you can tap on the red status bar at the top of the screen, and then tap ‘Stop’
How to screen record with sound on iPhone
By default, your screen recording will include the system audio coming from your iPhone.
To capture sound from the microphone with the screen recording
- Press and hold the ‘Screen Recording’ icon before you start the recording
- Tap the microphone icon to activate it
- Once you activate the mic, it will always be on whenever you screen record again, unless you turn it off again.
Can’t get sound when screen recording on your iPhone?
For security and legal reasons, the screen recording feature on iOS does not allow you to capture audio on some apps when screen recording, particularly calling apps such as WhatsApp, Messenger, FaceTime, Phone, etc.
Before screen recording, make sure these apps are closed and won’t interfere with your session. Alternatively, you can use a third-party app if you want to record the audio when screen recording a video call.
Where to find the saved screen recording
- Launch the ‘Photos’ app
- Locate your screen recording
Third-party iPhone screen recording apps
Great as it is to have a native screen recording feature on the iPhone, it is quite basic and doesn’t give you much control over the quality of the recording. And, it’s not available on older iPhone models.
If you want to get past the limitations of the iPhone’s built-in screen recorder or your model doesn’t have it, give some of the below third-party apps a try.
- Record it!
- Go Record.
- DU Recorder.
- Screen Recorder +
- Live Stream Apps & Games.
What’s great about these apps is that they allow you to do much more than just record your phone’s screen. They have special features that allow you to write and draw on the screen, or highlight the areas you tap on your screen when recording a tutorial. You can also add your front camera video to the screen recording.
Most importantly, you can choose the video resolution you want your screen recording to be, and even how many frames per second you want to record.
All the apps listed above pretty much work the same way. Give them a try and see which one you like best.
Tips for screen recording on your iPhone
Lock your phone’s orientation
Screen recording captures everything that happens on your phone. So, if your phone changes orientation automatically from portrait to landscape or vice versa, that will get recorded, too.
It may not seem like a big deal but it can be off-putting to some people to watch a video that constantly flip-flops between portrait and landscape mode unnecessarily.
So, unless you absolutely need the screen to rotate for whatever you’re screen recording, it’s best to lock your phone’s screen orientation to avoid unnecessary and accidental changes to it during recording.
Keep an eye on your storage space
It’s easy to screen record and forget the fact that what you’re doing takes up space on your phone. The longer your screen recording is and the higher its resolution, the more space it will consume on your phone.
So, before you start recording, take a look at how much space you have available on your phone and if it will be enough to accommodate the screen recording you want to capture.
Keep in mind that if you do not have enough memory on your phone, screen recording will not be able to work properly.
Turn on ‘Do Not Disturb’
When screen recording, the last thing you want is to have notifications popping up during your session, especially if they contain confidential content. It’s disruptive, and nobody wants to see it.
To avoid that, switch on the Do Not Disturb option (or something similar on your phone’s OS). That will silence all your apps and prevent them from sending you notifications until you the feature off.
Don’t have too many apps open
Even if you have ‘Do Not Disturb’ turned on, it’s a good idea to close all unnecessary apps when screen recording, besides avoiding annoying notifications during recording. Firstly, screen recording drains the battery. Having many apps run in the background does not help at all.
Secondly, depending on the speed of your phone, having too many apps open may cause it to slow down or lag. That doesn’t make for a good viewing experience, particularly if you want to share your screen recordings on platforms such as YouTube.
Also, if you want to record sound from the microphone, having other apps that use the mic open in the background might interfere with the functionality of the screen recorder.
Ask for consent when screen recording a video call
When you’re doing a screen recording of a video call, the person on the other side of the call will not know that you’re recording the call. However, it’s common courtesy to ask for permission to record the call or notify the other person that the call is being recorded.
In fact, it’s illegal in some places to record a call of any type with someone without letting them know that they’re being recorded. So, make sure you’re not doing anything illegal where you live by screen recording the video call.
Conclusion
After you’re done screen recording, you can edit your video if you want to. It might be a good idea to cut the beginning and end parts of the video where there might be a bit of dead air space just as you start/stop recording. It just makes the video look cleaner, particularly if you aim to share it.
Note:
Some apps don’t allow screen recording. For example, if you try to screen record a video streaming app (e.g. Netflix), the screen recording will be blank.
You can’t use screen mirroring and screen recording at the same time
Warning!
Screen recording will capture everything you do on your screen without hiding anything. If you use it to record sensitive information, do so at your own risk. However, as mentioned in the beginning, some apps will not allow screen recording for security and copyright reasons.
