How to screen record on FaceTime with or without sound

FaceTime video calls are often de facto between people who all own iPhones or iPads, but the technology isn’t really built for recording. Apple likes to tout the platform’s end-to-end encryption, and there’s no way of hooking other apps into it. If you want to record a FaceTime call, you’ll have to use a shotgun approach that isn’t terribly pretty.

How to screen record on FaceTime, with or without sound

As this guide’s title suggests, to record a FaceTime call, you’ll need to use screen recording tools. Free options are built into Apple’s software, with precise instructions depending on your device.

iPhone and iPad

The critical thing to remember when screen recording on an iPhone or iPad is that audio is muted by default. If you forget to enable it — which is extremely easy — you’ll end up with video, but no matching voices. We’ll explain how to fix this in a moment.

To get started, go to Control Center by swiping down from the top right-hand corner of your screen, over where the battery indicator is located.

Next, tap the Screen Recording icon. If you don’t have the icon enabled, go to Settings > Control Center and tap its plus icon.

Once you’ve tapped Screen Recording in Control Center, you’ll get a 3-second countdown before recording begins. To capture audio, though, you’ll need to long-press the Screen Recording icon. That should bring up the screen below, where you can tap the Microphone icon at the bottom.

We say screen recording is shotgun solution because as the above screenshot notes, everything is included, such as notifications and the user interface. It may be a good idea to enable Do Not Disturb (via Control Center) to temporarily silence alerts.

macOS

First, open FaceTime, then hit CMD + Shift + 5 on your keyboard. This brings up controls at the bottom of your screen.

In the highlighted section, the button on the left records everything onscreen, and the one on the right records a selected portion. If you choose the latter, you’ll get a dotted, draggable window you need to resize.

Once you’ve made a choice, click Options and choose a place to save your recording.

The Capture button at the end should now say Record. Click that to begin recording. Audio is automatically captured on a Mac, so there’s no need for a separate toggle.

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