How to take a screenshot on Windows, Mac, iPhone and Android. How to take a picture of the mobile phone screen. Today we will talk about how to do how to take screenshots both on Android smartphones and on iPhones, yes on Windows and MAC… let's get started.
We write a lot of stories on computers and smartphones. In the course of writing these articles, we need to take a lot of screenshots. While it may come naturally to some of you, knowing all the ins and outs of how to capture a screen can be tricky. There may be some devices you didn't know had built-in screen capture utilities.
If you need to take a screenshot, click here and find your smartphone. In this article, we'll talk about everything you should know about taking screenshots, regardless of platform: Windows, ChromeOS, macOS, iOS, Android, and more.
Most systems already have their own proprietary tools built into the system, but there is also a wide variety of third-party software to choose from. There are also add-ons you can install to capture images directly on your web browser. there how to take a screenshot on every device and system you might use.
How to take a screenshot on iPhone, iPad
For years, there was only one way to take a screenshot on Apple devices. All you had to do was hold the Sleep / Wake button and press the Home button. On iPhone 8, up to the original, you hear the camera shutter (if sound is on) and see a "flash". The screenshot is saved in the Camera Roll / All Photos as well as in the Screenshots album.
However, with the introduction of the iPhone X and iPad Pro line of phones, a new way of saving what you see on the screen has been introduced.
From the iPhone X onwards, including this year's iPhone 11 and iPad Pro, there are no more Home buttons. Instead, you must instead hold down the side button to the right of the screen (top button for iPad Pro) and simultaneously tap the Volume Up button on the opposite side.
If you are using an Apple Pencil with iPadOS, you can take a screenshot with the drawing tool. Just swipe up from the bottom corner of the screen with the Apple Pencil to capture the image. You can also choose between just the current screen or the whole page, even after taking the photo.
If you need to annotate a screenshot, tap the small thumbnail that appears at the bottom of the screen. This will open the device markup tool and allow you to start editing the document.
Some apps may make it difficult to take screenshots by normal means. This is where the screen recording tool built into your device comes into play. While its main purpose is to record video of your screen, you can pause the video and take a screenshot this way.
You can also take screenshots of your device from your computer with the third-party LonelyScreen tool. Share your screen via AirPlay and grab any PC-based screengrabs (or video grabs) you like.
Another integrated screen capture tool is Apowersoft iPhone / iPad Recorder. As long as the PC and mobile device are on the same Wi-Fi network, they will instantly talk via AirPlay (once the connection is activated in the Control Center). It can record video and still images and works with both Windows and macOS.
How to take a screenshot on Android
While Apple's iOS is all nice and smooth, Google doesn't have the same control over Android. This means that not all devices have the same functionality or use the same controls. However, most Android devices should be able to take screenshots by holding down the power and volume buttons at the same time for 1-2 seconds.
Some models support pressing the power and home buttons together, while others have a screen button in the drop-down quick settings menu. If your phone has Google Assistant or Bixby (Samsung), you can use a voice command to ask one of them to take a screenshot.
Samsung phones support gestures for taking screenshots. Switch to the screen image you like, open your hand and swipe the entire side of the palm and little finger along the screen from right to left. Configure (or disable) it in Settings> Advanced Features> Palm Swipe to Capture.
Regardless of the device they are using, all Android users can download third-party apps to take screenshots. Google Play has too many screenshot apps to count; some for free, others for a fee. Screenshot Easy is the top rated option that uses the same basic triggers as Android itself. You can also customize it and take a screenshot just by shaking your phone, for example.
If you'd like to take screenshots on a PC of what's happening on your Android device, check out Apowersoft's Android Recorder. The app allows you to wirelessly cast your phone or tablet screen to Windows or macOS to easily capture still images and videos. Requires Android 5.0 and later.
How to take a snapshot on Apple Watch
Did you know you can take a screenshot on Apple Watch? First, enable the feature. Open the Clock app on your iPhone or iPad and go to The My Watch> General> Enable Screens and activate it.
To take a screenshot on an Apple Watch, open the screen you want to capture. Press and hold the side button and click the digital crown at the same time. Like on the iPhone, the screen will "flash" white and the camera shutter will go off; the image will appear in the iPhone Camera Roll, not on the watch.
How to take a screenshot on Wear OS
If you like Google's Wear OS wearables, good news: taking screenshots of the watch face is a lot easier than before. You don't have to use the watch, but an app on your Android device.
Open the Wear OS app, press the three-dot menu and choose "Take screenshot of watch". You will receive a notification on your phone that will allow you to share and then save the image.
This workaround is necessary because the screen is not saved on the watch. Instead, you have to send it somewhere for it to be seen, be it another app, a sharing service, or even as a message to someone else.
How to take a screenshot in Windows 10
The easiest way to take a screenshot in Windows is to use the Print Screen button. You'll find it on the top right of most keyboards. Click once and it will appear that nothing has happened, but Windows just copied an image of the entire screen to the clipboard. You can then press Ctrl-V to paste it into a program, be it a Word document or an image editing program.
The problem with this method is that it's not fussy - it gets everything visible on your monitor, and if you have a multi-monitor setup, it will grab all displays as if they were one screen.
To narrow things down, open the specific screen you want to capture and tap Alt + Print Screen. This will save the screenshot of only that window and at the same time save it to the clipboard.
For the past few years, Windows has included the Snipping Tool, which you can find in the Start Menu. Once launched, it offers a small window with menus that make it easier to take multiple types of screenshots.
Just take the area you want with a rectangular or freeform capture area, select a specific window you want to capture, or get the whole screen in one take. Once a screenshot is taken, it is immediately moved to the Snipping Tool editor, where you can save and edit the image.
Introduced in 2019 with the Windows 10 May Update is a new tool called Snip & Sketch, which will replace the Snipping Tool. This new tool comes with a handy keyboard shortcut Shift + Windows key + S, which will launch a small toolbar at the top of the screen so you can easily choose what to capture.
Another integrated option for screenshots is the Windows Game Bar. Open the tool with Windows + S key and tap the camera button in the Broadcast and Capture section to save the screenshot to the Videos / Captures folder in the main user folder.
If all of that fails, Windows has a spectacular range of third-party screen capture utilities available. The top of the range is Snagit, but it costs a whopping 50 €. It will of course do everything you can imagine, even saving videos of what is happening on your screen.
However, you can find many free screenshot apps. Jing, from the creators of Snagit, also makes screencast videos and makes it easy to share what you capture. LightShot is a nifty, small utility that takes the PrtScrn key and makes it easy to capture and share. Both are also available for Mac.
How to take a screenshot on Mac
Mac users now have more control over screenshots. You can take screenshots in macOS with a few different keyboard shortcuts.
To capture the entire screen, tap Command + Shift + 3 and a PNG image of the screen will be sent to your desktop. If you only want part of the screen, tap Command + Shift + 4 to turn the cursor into a crosshair. Select the section of the screen you want to capture.
You can also press the spacebar (or Command + Shift + 4) and the cursor changes to a camera. Click any open window to highlight it, then click again to capture that window only. If you have a Mac with Touch Bar, you can grab it by pressing Command + Shift + 6.
If you prefer to immediately capture an image to the clipboard, add Control to any keyboard shortcut you use. To recap: Use Command + Shift + Control + 3 to capture the entire screen or Command + Shift + Control + 4 for a specific section. The image will not be saved to the desktop, but it can be pasted into an app.
Mojave also introduced a screenshot tool that you can activate by pressing Command + Control + Shift + 5 or by navigating to Launchpad> More> Screenshots.
The screen capture window allows you to perform various actions. Choose to capture the whole screen, part of the screen or a specific window. You can also capture the video of the whole screen or just a part of it and there is also the option to take screenshots with a timer.
If you have a Mac with a Retina display, a screenshot of the entire screen can be huge in PNG format, up to 7MB in size. If you prefer the Mac to save in JPG or some other format, change the settings. You need to open a terminal window on the Mac in question and type:
by default write com.apple.screencapture type jpg
Enter the password if required, then restart your computer and future screenshots will be saved in the preferred format you specify. you can always change it again by typing the previous command with PNG at the end.
If you prefer a third-party solution, there are options like Snappy (which can sync screenshots with SnappyApp for iOS), Jing, Snagit, Skitch, LightShot, and more.
How to take a screenshot on Linux
There are as many ways to take a screenshot in Linux as there are Linux tastes. Let's take a look at Ubuntu, in particular. Open the Activity menu and select Screenshot, then choose from the full screen, a single window, or a custom area before taking a picture.
Linux also allows you to use the Print Screen button as well as the Alt + Print Screen shortcut to take a screenshot of a window. Use Shift + Print Screen to select a custom area to scan. You can also add the Ctrl key to any shortcut to save the image to the clipboard.
The GNU Image Manipulation Program (GIMP) allows you to take a screenshot from the same program where you edit the image next.
Open GIMP and go to File> Acquire> Screenshot. You will have a few options, such as taking the full screen, a window, or using a delay. The scanned image then opens in GIMP for editing.
How to take a screenshot on Chromebook
If you have a Chromebook, you can take a screenshot with the help of the laptop's Window Switch key. This button is located at the top of the keyboard and has an image of a box with lines next to it. Press Ctrl + Window Switch Key to take a full screen snapshot. You will see the notification at the bottom right of the screen.
Enter Ctrl + Shift + Window Switch to get just a section of the screen. The cursor becomes a crosshair that you can use to select what you want to capture.
If you're using a standard keyboard, not a Chromebook keyboard, you won't see a window switch button. You will need to Ctrl + F5 and Ctrl + Shift + F5 instead.
If you're using the Chromebook in tablet mode, you can take screenshots without using the keyboard. Press the power and volume down buttons to take a photo, although this method only captures the entire screen.
All images are saved as PNG files in the local Download folder on your computer. If you want to keep these screenshots permanently, you need to upload them to Google Photos or back them up to Google Drive.
Since 90 percent of what you do on a Chromebook probably happens in the Chrome web browser, you can also use a number of Chrome extensions. For these, see below.
How to take a snapshot with web browsers
Chrome, Firefox, and even Safari all support add-ons that extend the browser's usability. Here are some programs you can download with browser extensions. Use these add-ons to use screen capture utilities directly in your browser.
- Lighthot it's free and works on Windows and Mac, but can also be added as a Chrome and Firefox extension.
- FireShot is a paid capture program that works with a browser or email client. Capture and enable instant edits, social media sharing, or instant save to computer. There are also Chrome and Firefox extensions.
- Awesome Screenshot is a free program that takes an entire page or section and then quickly annotates it (or blurs the bad bits) before sharing instantly. There are extensions for Chrome, Firefox and Safari.
- Nimbus capture is free and will allow you to capture the whole screen or just part of it. You can also use it to draw, annotate or mark those same images. There are Chrome and Firefox extensions.
