(Newswire.net — October 5, 2017) — On the 19th of September Apple released iOS 11 – the new version of their mobile operating system that is used by most of their mobile devices including iPads, iPhones, iPods and Apple TVs. As expected it introduced many new features alongside numerous changes to existing parts of the operating system.
One of the new features introduced in iOS 11 that has been a long time coming is the built-in screen recorder. Although iOS has been able to capture images from its screen for some time in the form of screenshots it has never been able to record videos from it in the past, and that is rectified with this new feature.
That limitation is part of the reason why in the past users have often resorted to third-party solutions to record their screen. Many connect and use a screen recorder for Mac, while others use video capture devices or even jailbreak their devices so that they can enable screen recording via certain apps.
With the introduction of screen recording in iOS 11, there is no longer a need to resort to those measures. Users can now add a ‘screen recording’ option to the Control Center, and swipe up from the bottom of the screen to open it and start recording. While the recording is ongoing, the top bar will be colored red to indicate as much.
For now the screen recorder in iOS 11 is still fairly basic, but is capable of recording video footage from the screen of Apple devices as well as audio from their speakers and microphone. The latter option will have to be enabled prior to recording however, by using 3D touch to bring up the settings for screen recording.
Due to the fact that the screen recording has to be activated from the Control Center, the first few seconds of video may show that action in spite of the 3 second countdown. The last few seconds of the video may have the same issue as well, though users can stop recording by tapping the red bar at the top of the screen rather than accessing the Control Center.
Just as with previous editions of iOS, it is possible to trim unwanted parts of the video footage and edit it in other ways using the Photos app. Similarly there are plenty of third-party editors available for iOS as well.
While it is still early days, having built-in screen recording in iOS 11 is expected to have a lasting impact as it will allow users to save any video footage they want with relative ease. The feature could be used to save video calls, record online streaming videos, or even capture temporary video content from platforms such as Snapchat.
With an easier and more convenient option to record videos from the screens of iOS devices, the amount of user-generated content is likely to increase as well. It is unknown whether future versions of iOS will build on the feature, or whether it will remain in its current form.