How to Show a Cursor in iPhone Screen Recordings

Before you start

The iPhone screen recorder records the screen output from iOS. It does not record a mouse pointer because iPhone and iPad are touch-first devices. If you need a visible cursor, you usually need to record on a Mac, use an external drawing or presentation tool, or add a pointer effect while editing. Check your iOS version and whether your app provides its own touch indicator before recording.

Step-by-step instructions

On iPhone, there is no built-in system setting that adds a cursor to a screen recording. Use one of these approaches depending on the result you want.

• Record the iPhone screen from a Mac using QuickTime Player. Connect the iPhone with a cable and choose it as the camera source. You can then use the Mac pointer to indicate screen areas, but the pointer itself belongs to the Mac recording overlay or surrounding toolbar rather than the iPhone screen output.
• Connect a Bluetooth mouse or trackpad to the iPad and use AssistiveTouch on iPadOS if your workflow allows showing the assistive pointer during an iPad screen recording.
• Use an app that displays touch feedback in real time. Some tutorial, annotation, or screen-sharing apps can show a circle or highlight where you tap. Check the app's current description to confirm whether the indicator appears in the saved recording.
• Record normally without a cursor, then add a pointer, highlight, or tap marker in a video editor. This keeps the original recording clean and gives you the most control over placement.
• Use iOS screen mirroring to a Mac and annotate the mirrored window with the Mac cursor while recording the Mac screen. The final recording is a Mac screen recording of the iPhone display, so the cursor is visible if it is included by the Mac recording settings.

Check the output

After recording, play the saved video and look for the cursor or tap marker at the moments where you expected it. If you recorded from a Mac, confirm that the cursor was captured over the mirrored iPhone window and not only in the app toolbar. If you used a touch-indicator app, test a short clip first to verify that the indicator appears in the exported video and not only during live preview.

Common problems and next steps

A common issue is expecting the iPhone system to render a cursor automatically. iOS does not export a pointer in the standard screen recording. If your tutorial needs a cursor, use a Mac recording environment or an annotation app. On older iOS versions, screen recording controls may be in a different Control Center location, so add the Screen Recording control before you start if it is not available.

If the Mac cursor does not appear in a QuickTime or mirrored recording, check the Mac screen recording settings and whether the recording tool includes cursor capture. Some tools offer cursor capture as a separate option. If you cannot add a cursor during recording, make a clean iPhone recording and add markers in editing.