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If you'd like to capture a video of what's happening on your iPhone 11's screen, you can use a built-in feature of iOS to capture a screen recording. It's like taking a screenshot, but a video. This also works on iPhone 11 Pro and iPhone 11 Pro Max.

What Is a Screen Recording?

On an iPhone, a screen recording is a video of everything you see on your device's screen, including any actions you take, apps you run, notifications, or otherwise. It doesn't involve any cameras. Instead, a screen recording directly takes the data from the screen and turns it into a video file. It's like a screenshot in motion.

Related: How to Take a Screenshot on iPhone

After capturing the screen recording, you can store it for future use or share it like any other video on your iPhone. Screen recordings are good for capturing certain games, recording errors for troubleshooting, and making instructional videos. It's also important to note that screen recording doesn't work while mirroring your iPhone's display.

First, Enable the "Screen Recording" Button

To capture a screen recording on your iPhone, you first need to turn on a special "Screen Recording" button in Control Center. (Control Center is the set of quick shortcuts you can access by swiping downward from the upper-right corner of your screen.)

To do so, first open Settings by tapping the gear icon.

On iPhone, tap the gear icon to launch the Settings app.

In Settings, tap "Control Center."

In Settings, tap "Control Center"

In Control Center settings, scroll down to the "More Controls" list and tap "Screen Recording" (with the plus symbol beside it).

In Control Center settings, tap "Screen Recording" to add it to the "Included Controls" list.

The "Screen Recording" option will move to the "Included Controls" list. You can tap and drag the items in this list to change their arrangement on the Control Center screen. Once you have the order arranged how you like, exit Settings. Now you're ready for the next step: recording.

Related: How to Customize Your iPhone or iPad's Control Center

How to Capture a Screen Recording on iPhone 11

Now that you've added the Screen Recording button to Control Center (covered in the section above), you can take a screen recording at any time. First, open Control Center by swiping downward from the upper-right corner of the screen (near the battery icon).

Open Control Center on iPhone 11 or iPhone 12 by swiping down from the upper-right corner of the screen.

In Control Center, locate the Screen Recording button, which looks like a circle within another circle. To record quickly without audio, tap it once. To record with audio, press and hold it.

Tap the "Screen Recording" button in Control Center.

After holding the Screen Recording button for a moment, another screen will pop up. To record with audio, tap the microphone button until it turns red and reads "Microphone On." Next, select "Start Recording."

Tap the microphone button, then select "Start Recording."

The screen record function will begin a three-second countdown, and when the countdown is complete, the screen record button in Control Center (and the clock in the upper-left corner) will turn red, and your iPhone will begin recording everything on the screen as a video. If you enabled the microphone, your iPhone will capture audio as well, so you can narrate what you're doing if necessary.

To stop taking a screen recording, you have two options. One way is using Control Center: Open Control Center and tap the Screen Recording button again.

Tap the "Screen Recording" button in Control Center.

The screen recording will stop instantly. The other option is to tap the red clock in the upper-left corner of your screen and select "Stop" in the pop-up dialog.

Tap the red time in the upper-left corner, then select "Stop."

Either way, once screen recording is complete, you'll see a confirmation that the screen recording video was saved to your Photos library.

A confirmation on iPhone reading "Screen Recording video saved to Photos."

To view your screen recording, open the Photos app and tap the recording's thumbnail, and it will play just like any other video stored on your iPhone. If you'd like, you can use the Photo app's edit features to trim the video to the desired length. Have fun!

Related: How to Edit Videos on Your iPhone or iPad