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Touchy Tip 001: Capture the screen

Posted by Simon on 25 January 2010

6 Comments - Latest by Mietwagen Mallorca

Imagine you're the first person to stumble across a particular iPhone shortcut. Fame amongst the Mac fanboys awaits...but only if you can show them how to reproduce it. And what better way of doing so than by posting step-by-step illustrations on your blog. Hang on a minute though. How are you going to get these illustrations? How can you snap images of your iPhone's screen?

For the first year of the iPhone's existence, this simply wasn't possible. If you wanted to snap the screen, you had to use an expensive camera or invalidate your iPhone's warranty by installing someone else's hacked-together attempt at a screen capture program. All that changed with the arrival of Apple's iPhone 2.0 software however, so you can now capture the screen and have the resulting image added directly to your iPhone's Camera Roll. Here's how...

Start by getting the screen exactly the way you want it. If you want your screen grab to show an onscreen button or icon in the process of being pressed then go ahead and press down on it.

Now, hold down the Home button and, while keeping it held down, press the Sleep/Wake switch at the top of the phone. If you're holding down onscreen keys at this point, you might need a friend to help you execute this manoeuvre (or at least help you to dislocate the fingers necessary to perform this manoeuvre yourself).

Having done so, the screen will flash white and you'll hear the sound of a camera shutter. This tells you that the snap was taken successfully.

Now, if you go to the Photos program and open up the Camera Roll, you'll see a crisp, full-sized image of whatever was on the screen.

At this point, you can send it by email, sync it with your computer; or even designate it as your iPhone's wallpaper (to confuse the hell out of anyone else who tries to use your phone while you aren't watching). Sweeeeeeeeeeeet!

Comments (6 so far)

JJ on 25 January 2010

Haha. Brilliant! Love the backing track!
Alan Rodgers on 25 January 2010

Great stuff! What's that weird wooden-looking armadillo-type thingamajig behind the little boy btw?!?
Simon (Etre Touchy) on 26 January 2010

JJ, Alan Rodgers: Thanks for the kind words!

The "weird wooden-looking armadillo-type thingamajig" is "I am so sorry. Goodbye" - a tea house created by artists Heather and Ivan Morison that was installed on the waterfront at the Barbican Centre (London) at the time of shooting. (Flickr has some great shots of it).
DavidR on 27 January 2010

Thought you might be able to do this, but couldn't work out how. Thx for the tip!
anance on 27 July 2010

I don't generally respond to blogposts but I' sure will in this case. Wow a big thumbs up for this one C CLass IP hosting!
Mietwagen Mallorca on 29 July 2010

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