How to Screen Record on iPhone and iPad

You can record your iPhone or iPad screen from Control Center, add your voice with the microphone and find the saved video in Photos.

Add Screen Recording to Control Center

On an iPhone with Face ID, swipe down from the top-right corner. On an iPhone with a Home button, swipe up from the bottom. Apple’s Control Center instructions show both gestures. On iPad, swipe down from the top-right corner.

If the recording button is missing, touch and hold the Control Center background, choose Add a Control and select Screen Recording. This is the current setup shown in Apple’s screen recording guide.

Start and stop a screen recording

Tap the recording button and wait for the three-second countdown. Close Control Center, then perform the actions you want to capture.

To finish, tap the recording indicator at the top of the screen and confirm Stop. You can also return to Control Center and tap the red recording button. Apple documents both options in its iPhone and iPad recording instructions.

Add your voice

For spoken instructions, press and hold the recording button before you begin. Switch the microphone on, then select Start Recording.

Make a short sample first and listen to it before recording a longer explanation. That gives you a chance to catch a quiet voice or unwanted background noise.

Find the video and check audio restrictions

Your recording is saved in the Photos library. Open it there to review what you captured.

Screen recording can capture sound, but some apps restrict audio or video recording. Turning on the microphone does not establish that an app permits its content to be captured. Apple also says screen recording and screen mirroring cannot run together.

For a single image, use our iPhone screenshot guide or iPad screenshot guide. More device coverage is collected in Apple news, updates and guides.