Recording iOS Device Display on Windows

In this arcticle, we are going to look into how to record the screen of an iOS device (iPhone, iPad), with the help of a PC running Windows. For this, we are going to use Reflector from Airsquirrels, which allows to Windows machine to function as an AirPlay projection target. Reflector also has built in video recording capability, so the task is fairly easy to accomplish with it. The 7 days trial period can be used without any purchase, though it adds watermark to the video.

Installing Reflector

Open a browser and go to http://www.airsquirrels.com/reflector/download.

On Airsquirrels’ website click the 64-Bit Download button. This assumes that you are running a 64-bit version Windows, as most modern day computers do run 64-Bit version of the Windows. If you are not running 64-bit OS on your Windows machine, you probably already know this and should choose the 32-bit version link.

Start the downloaded MSI file. At the time of writing the version of Reflector is 3.1.1, so the downloaded file is called Reflector3.1.1-64.msi. On the window appearing, read the License Agreement, then tick the “I accept the terms in the License Agreement” checkbox and press Install.

Starting Reflector

Start the Reflector application. The installer installs it into an application folder named Reflector with the name Reflector 3 in the Windows Start Menu.

Once the reflector starting window is shown, click on Try Reflector 3. Alternatively, you can select the “Purchase Reflector 3” or the “I have a license key” buttons if you wish to buy it or have a product key.

Once the application is started, you will see this window. The highlighted part of the window is the AirPlay device name for your Windows machine. In the case of the screenshot, it is SUPERNOVA.

Connecting the iOS device to the PC

On the iOS device bring up the Control Center and tap on the Screen Mirroring button.

Tap on the name of the AirPlay device in the Screen Mirroring list. In the case of the example it is SUPERNOVA.

Once you tap on the AirPlay device name for mirroring, the Windows machine will pop up a window displaying a code for the connection.

Enter the number from the PC on into the password dialog on your iOS device and tap Ok.

Once the password is entered on the iOS device and the connection is established, the device will show up on the Reflector window.

Recording the screen of the iOS device

Press the Record All button to start recording.

Once you start the recording, the screen of the device being recorded will show up on the Windows machine.

Present on the device what you would like to record.

Once finished with presenting the actions to be recorded, press the Stop button on the Reflector window.

Reflector will convert the data into a video format and then propose to save it somewhere. Save the file and the recording is done.

Disconnecting the iOS device

To stop the screen mirroring, bring up the Screen Mirroring settings on your iOS device through the Control Center as done in the previous steps and tap Stop Mirroring. Alternatively, the device is also disconnected if you close Reflector on the PC.

Uninstalling Reflector

If you wish to uninstall the Reflector 3 application installed during the steps above, you can do it by following these steps on your Windows machine:

  1. Click the Windows Start Menu
  2. Start the Settings application
  3. Click on the Apps button
  4. Select the Reflector 3 application from the list of the applications
  5. Click Uninstall

You can connect with me on LinkedIn, Twitter or you can register on the blog. Share if you found this article useful or know somebody who would benefit from reading it.

By subscribing to the email list, you will be notified about new posts.
Loading

No comments yet.

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Powered by WordPress. Designed by WooThemes