How to Record Your iPhone Screen With Audio

Before you start

You can record most iPhone screens with audio using the built-in Screen Recording control. This process runs locally on the iPhone and does not require an online service. You will need an iPhone running iOS 11 or later. The Control Center must include the Screen Recording control before you begin.

Check which sounds you want in the recording. The Screen Recording control can capture microphone audio from your surroundings, including your voice. It cannot separately capture audio from some protected media sources, such as certain phone calls or DRM-protected playback, because those sources may not be available to the capture source.

Step-by-step instructions

First add the Screen Recording control to Control Center if it is not already visible. Open Settings, tap Control Center, then find Screen Recording in the included or more controls list and add it with the green plus button.

Open Control Center on your iPhone. The gesture depends on the model: swipe down from the top-right corner on an iPhone with Face ID, or swipe up from the bottom edge on an iPhone with a Home button.

Press and hold the Screen Recording button. In the small panel that appears, check the Microphone setting at the bottom. Tap Microphone On if you want to capture your voice or room sound, or leave it Off to record only screen activity. The selected state is shown by the icon or label in the panel.

Tap Start Recording. A three-second countdown may appear before capture begins. During the countdown, close Control Center and return to the screen you want to record. The recording timer is shown in the status bar.

To stop, tap the red recording indicator in the status bar or open Control Center and tap the Screen Recording button again. The clip is saved to the Photos app in the Recents album. This process is reversible in the sense that you can delete the clip from Photos if it is not needed.

Check the output

Open the Photos app and play the recording. Confirm that the video shows the expected screen activity and that sound is present when you intended to record audio. A clip with no audio track may play without sound even if the video looks correct.

The iPhone records screen video using the current display orientation and frame rate available to the capture source. The output is stored as a video recording format in Photos. The exact frame rate, bitrate, sample rate, and encoding settings are managed by iOS and are not user-adjustable in the Screen Recording control.

Common problems and next steps

If your iPhone screen recording has no sound, first check whether the Microphone option was on before recording. A screen recording made with Microphone Off will have no voice or room audio. Open the clip in Photos and check whether the issue is missing sound or very low audio.

If you want to record your voice, set Microphone On before starting a new recording. Position the iPhone so the microphone is not covered. The microphone is an input device, while the speaker is an output device; playing sound through the speaker can pick up background noise and make your voice harder to hear.

If the recording has audio but it is too quiet, move closer to the microphone or record in a quieter room. If the audio is distorted, reduce the source volume or move the iPhone farther from the sound source. There is no separate input level control in the Screen Recording panel, so adjust the environment before recording.

A voiceover on an iPhone screen recording is normally captured by turning on the microphone and speaking while the screen records. The screen recording tool does not provide a separate voiceover track. If you need separate narration, record the commentary with Microphone On and then trim the clip in Photos or edit it in a video app.

If sound is still missing, check whether the app or media you recorded blocks audio capture. The iPhone may record that content without its audio because the audio is not available to the system recording source. Test with a different app or a sound you control, such as your own voice.