3 Ways to Record Screencast on your iPhone or iPad

3 Ways to Record Screencast on your iPhone or iPad

How to Record Screencast on your iPhone or iPad

 

Have you ever wanted to record your iPhone or iPad screen activity? Whether you are an app developer building iOS apps, a gamer who wants to record a gameplay or a blogger who wants to review apps, what you want is definitely a screencasting tool that will easily help you to record a video of the screen activity.

 

Screencasting apps for Windows and Mac are easily available, but if you want to do the same on the iPad or iPhone, the options are very limited. Unfortunately, iTunes app store solution is far and few between and even if such an app does slip through, it is only for a brief moment before it is removed.

 

We have came up with few methods or workaround to capture screen activity of your iPad or iPhone and transfer it into a video. We will list it down for you here.

 

Compatible devices

  • iPhone 4S
  • iPhone 5
  • iPhone 5S
  • iPhone 5C
  • iPad 2,
  • iPad 3
  • iPad 4
  • iPad mini
  • iPad Touch 5

The AirPlay methods listed below is only compatible with newer iOS devices, older devices would not have true mirroring available.

 

Method 1 : Record screencasts using Reflector App for AirPlay ($12.99)

3-Ways-to-Record-Screencast-on-your-iPhone-or-iPad

Reflector is an AirPlay receiver for Windows and Mac. Download and install Reflector app and it will mirror your iPhone or iPad screen on to your desktop wirelessly, both video and audio will be transmitted. You don’t have to install additional software on your iOS devices and there’s no need for jailbreaking. The iPhone/iPad and desktop should be on the same network though.

 

Recording is very easy with this app, just select “Start Recording” from the device menu. It will prompt you for a save location when you are done recording. Wait for it to encode the video then you are done.

 

Method 2 : Record screencasts using Video Capture Card ($100+)

3-Ways-to-Record-Screencast-on-your-iPhone-or-iPad-02

You can mirror the iPhone or iPad to the big screen easily using either Apple’s official AV adapters or third party accessories.

 

Since we want to record, so instead of connecting the iOS device output directly to an external screen, you would want to connect it to a video capture card for automatic recording. The video capture card for HDMI input, range AverTV HD ($109.99) and Blackmagic Design ($199) are considered the most affordable devices.

 

There are also other options if you do not wish to open your computer chassis to install the video capture card, like Blackmagic Design UltraStudio 3D and Epiphan. External capture devices can be pretty pricey though.

 

Method 3 : Jailbreak and use Display Recorder app ($4.99)

 

If your iPhone or iPad is jailbroken, you can use the Display Recorder app ($4.99) only available through Cydia. The app will record your iOS device screen output and the audio would be from the microphone.

 

Conclusion

 

Obviously, there is no free way to record screencasts on an iOS device. For convenient and ease of use, the AirPlay method would be recommended. The $12.99 is definately worth it for high quality of recording and without any physical cables.

2 thoughts on “3 Ways to Record Screencast on your iPhone or iPad”

  1. As I know, Display Recorder gets pulled from the App Store because iOS screen recording is banned. Currently, I’m using a desktop app call acethinker iphone screen recorder that mirrors my iPhone screen to the computer and use its screen recording function to make videos. It’s not that direct, but it works.

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Scroll to Top