If you’re like most smartphone users, screenshots are a part of your daily phone use, whether you’re capturing a funny meme, sharing part of an interesting article, or saving a conversation for later. Screenshots are a fast, convenient way to save and share information. But it’s not always obvious how to take them on a new device. Apple’s screenshot methods have evolved over the years, most especially with the introduction of Face ID and the phasing out of the physical Home button starting with the iPhone X in 2017.
How to Take a Screenshot on an iPhone With Face ID
With the release of the iPhone X in 2017, Apple did away with the traditional physical home button at the bottom of the device. The change puts more on the side button, with the former “home” action now swiping up on your screen. Apple’s Face ID models – which now span from the iPhone X through the latest releases – need a different button combination to take a screenshot than older Home button models.
Let’s talk about how it works:
- Press and release the side button and the volume up button at the same time.
- A small window of the image will appear in the lower-left corner of your screen – tap it if you want to proceed with the screenshot or swipe the image away to dismiss it.
- Select “Done” when you’re finished editing, or exit to go back to what you were doing.
- Save the screenshot to your destination of choice, like a specific photo album or file folder.
You can access your screenshot by opening the file or album you saved it to, and it will also appear in All Photos in your Photos app. If you find your storage filling up, learn how to delete photos on your iPhone to free up space.
If you’d like a hands-free alternative, the Back Tap feature lets you take a screenshot by tapping the back of your iPhone two or three times. You can enable this under Settings > Accessibility > Touch > Back Tap.
How to Take a Screenshot on iPhones With a Home Button
If you own an iPhone with a Home button – like the iPhone 7, iPhone 8, or iPhone SE (2020) – capturing a screenshot is easy. Apple phased out the Home button starting with the iPhone X in 2017. But these models remain in use. Let’s look at how to take a screenshot:
- Press and release the Home button and the Side button simultaneously. Note that on older models such as the iPhone 5s, you’ll press the Home button and the Top button instead.
- Wait for a small thumbnail of the screenshot to appear in the lower left corner of your screen, then tap it to open and edit it. You can also swipe it away to dismiss it if you don’t need to make any changes.
- Your screenshot will automatically save to your Photos app, where you can access, edit, or share it at any time.
How to Take a Full Page Screenshot
If you’ve ever tried saving a screenshot of a recipe, conversation, to-do list or web post, you’re likely familiar with the challenge of taking a few screenshots, hoping they line up correctly and then trying to find the correct order later on. Fortunately, Apple makes it easier than ever to capture the entire page without the issue.
You have two options for full page screenshots – saving it as a PDF or a stitching app.
1. Save the Page as a PDF
Instead of saving screenshots as separate images, you can save the entire page as a PDF, or Portable Document Format. The PDF will exist as a single file, which makes it easier to send, edit, organize and review.
Let’s talk about how you do it:
- Open the page in Safari.
- Take a screenshot using your button combination – Side button and Volume Up simultaneously on Face ID models, or Side button and Home button on models with a Home button.
- Tap the screenshot preview that appears in the corner of your screen.
- Select the “Full Page” tab at the top of the editor.
- Tap “Done” and choose to save the screenshot as a PDF to your Files app.
You can also share the PDF directly through Messages or as an email attachment instead of saving it locally.
2. Use a Third-Party Stitching App
If you’d rather save a full page as a long image instead of a PDF, a stitching app is a great alternative. Stitching apps let you take multiple separate screenshots and combine them into a single long image that you can send as one file. Many apps include features like automatically removing navigation bars and seamlessly blending overlapping areas between screenshots.
Tailor, Long Screenshot and Picsew are three popular third-party stitching apps for iOS – find them in the App Store. For more ways to capture and share what’s on your screen, check out our guide on how to screen record on an iPhone and iPad.
Tips for Better iPhone Screenshots
A polished screenshot with helpful text and arrows can be a helpful communication tool. Make your screenshots count with these helpful tips:
- Crop the image: Crop a screenshot before sending it or saving it to remove any sensitive information or distracting elements, like the notification bar. You can also use the crop feature to help your screenshot fit specific dimensions or file sizes.
- Close ads and pop-ups: Chat bubbles, web ads and pop-up email subscription boxes can take away from your screenshot’s focal point. Close all of these before capturing your image and crop out any sidebar advertisements that you can’t dismiss.
- Use the Magnifier: Apple has a built-in magnifying feature that lets you zoom in to the page or conversation and select precisely what you’d like to capture – just tap the “plus” (+) button and zoom in or out until your image is in frame.
- Try Back Tap: If you prefer a hands-free alternative to pressing buttons, use Apple’s Back Tap feature to take a screenshot by simply tapping the back of your iPhone two or three times. You can enable this under Settings > Accessibility > Touch > Back Tap.
- Mark the image: Customize your screenshot by adding highlights, arrows or text, which is perfect when using the image for a presentation, project or post online. You can also download an annotation app from the App Store to get even more advanced features, like text redaction and easier highlighting.
- Organize your albums: Instead of keeping all of your screenshots in the same screenshot album, consider making multiple screenshot albums to help you stay more organized. Label them based on the content you typically capture, like “jokes,” “recent articles” or “recipes to try.”
- Delete when finished: Delete screenshots after you’re done with them to save space on your device. You can also transfer the file to cloud storage to free up space on your phone without permanently deleting the image.
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Screenshots help us illustrate a point, add a visual help to conversations and projects and make it easy to share information with friends and colleagues. If you’re ready to invest in a new smartphone with advanced screenshot capabilities, it may be time to upgrade. Whether you’re comparing models like the iPhone 12 Pro vs 13 Pro or looking at Samsung’s latest Galaxy options, there’s a great device out there for you.
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