As all good tech channels do, I set out to film a tutorial on how to screen record in iOS 11. I wanted to highlight how we used to do it in iOS 10 and earlier, so I set-up my Mac to record as well. Little did I know, the process had a few quirks, and we found out some ugly truths about Apple’s attempt at adding the Screen Recording feature.

First of all, I updated both my iPhone 6s and iPad 2017 to iOS11.  Very smooth process, as usual. I had that done a few days prior to recording by tutorial. I set up my Mac, and wanted to demonstrate screen recording with QuickTime (Windows users can use AirServer or Reflector 2, among others). I plugged my iPad and opened QuickTime, selected New Movie Recording and selected the iPad as my source. The screen recording process was fine using QuickTime to record.

I kept the QuickTime window open so I could demonstrate how to set-up the iDevice for Screen Recording – I needed to show it visually, and didn’t plan on pointing my camera at the screen. Using my screen capture software on my Mac, I could perfectly see the iPad screen. Adding the Screen Recording option to the Control Centre was simple,

The second part of the process is where things really got interesting. Demonstrating how to activate the Screen Recorder, I swiped up to make the Control Centre appear. I tapped on the Screen Recording button, it counts down, 3, 2, 1. and nothing. I was sure the button was supposed to turn red. It did not. Bewildered, I attempted to figure out if it was indeed recording, but invisibly. I noticed there was no red recoding bar across the top of the screen. Hmmm.

At that point (after a few minutes of looking around), I wondered if having it plugged into my Mac and having QuickTime connected to capture the screen was the issue. I duly unplugged the iPad and tried again. Opened the Control Centre, tapped the Screen Recording button, 3,2,1 – bam! red indicator lights up and we’re away! I had solved the issue!

I few minutes of navigating around the iPad and finally I turned the Screen Recording off. Checked my Camera Roll and the file was there. Excellent!

I then repeated the process using my iPhone, making sure to not have it plugged into my Mac and QuickTime when I was ready to record. A few more minutes of recording, followed by a quick demo on how to get the footage off the iDevices via AirDrop (see my tutorial on that here). It was time to start editing my tutorial.

As I started piecing the video together, I realised it was going to be a very different video than I had planned. I had noticed some additional issues when watching back my Screen Recordings from both iOS devices. The audio tracks were all messed up! This turned out to be a legit problem that Apple will need to fix in a future iOS 11 update.

I had since already recorded my teaser, intro and outs, but felt that they didn’t quite sell what the video was now going to be. So I recorded a short “interrupt” to explain we had some issues, and that the video was now about the issues, in addition the tutorial.

This video was a whole new beast. Once I finished it, I realised it was not the simple tutorial I had set-out to do. Then it hit me, record another video just outlining the 5 steps to Screen Recording in iOS 11. I got my trusty tripod and camera and set-it up on my kitchen table, natural light streaming in the window. I stood behind the tripod and held my iPhone in front of the camera. Within 5 minutes I had recorded all the steps. Later than evening it was done! I now had 2 videos I could post!

Below are both videos. First, the “Issues” video, it’s a bit more involved and we deal with both issues as we attempt to record the tutorial. The second is the simple, quick, step-by-step tutorial that is more better suited for those who like to just get the details and move on.

Check them both out. Question: Which are you most interested in? The “Issues” video or the straight “How-To” video? After watching, which one did you prefer, and why? You can leave your comments below on this blog post and you can also leave comments over at YouTube if you wish.

This has been Doug from Doug Hewson YouTube, and I’m out!