Screen mirroring and recording show private photos: what each captures

Three captures, three different risks

Apple’s guides on screen recording, iPhone Mirroring and mirroring to a TV are the source for each row. Showing photos on a TV at home has a page of its own, and so does sharing your screen in a meeting.

A screen recording is a copy that stays

You record a screen to show a bug to support, to teach a parent a step, or to keep a clip from a game. The video holds every frame, not only the part you meant.

Apple’s guide says recordings go straight into your photo library, under Collections, Media Types, then Screen Recordings. From there the copy goes wherever your library goes. With iCloud Photos on, your photos and videos are stored in iCloud so that you can reach them on all your devices.

Before you record:

1. Close the apps you don’t need, so the app switcher holds nothing private.
2. Plan the path. Know which screens you will tap through, and skip Photos if the clip isn’t about photos.
3. Leave the microphone off unless you need your voice. You turn it on by touching and holding the record button.

After you record:

1. Watch the whole clip once. Look for a banner, a photo grid or a search box with text in it.
2. Trim the ends, or record again if something private shows in the middle.
3. Delete the takes you won’t use. When you delete photos and videos in Photos, they go to its Recently Deleted album for 30 days, and after that they are permanently deleted.

Screen Mirroring: the same, live

Mirroring to a TV or a Mac display is a recording that no one saves. Apple’s guide says it shows whatever appears on your iPhone. The risk is the next tap, not the one you planned: opening Photos to find one picture shows the grid around it.

You also can’t do both at once. The recording guide says you can’t record your screen and mirror it at the same time.

iPhone Mirroring: your phone, on someone’s desk

iPhone Mirroring lets your Mac show and run your iPhone in a window. Your phone stays locked and nearby while it happens, and you can also get the phone’s notifications on the Mac (Apple).

The setup offers two choices. Ask Every Time wants Touch ID, Face ID or the device passcode each time. Authenticate Automatically connects with no check. On a Mac that other people use, or that sits where others can reach it, the first one is the safe choice: with the second, the Mac’s login is the only thing between someone at it and your Photos app.

Two more habits on a shared Mac:

• Say no to notifications from the iPhone, or a message preview lands on a screen others can read.
• Lock the Mac when you step away from it, since its login stands in front of your phone too.

Some apps keep themselves out

The recording guide notes that some apps might not allow you to record their content. It is the app’s choice, made in its own code, and there is no switch for it in Settings.

Where Sealed helps, and where it doesn’t

It helps because its screen goes blank while the phone is recorded or mirrored, and that is on unless you turn it off. Sealed covers its contents while the screen is being recorded or mirrored, and that is on by default.

It helps with the captures iOS reports to apps. Sealed’s cover follows what iOS reports as a captured screen: screen recording, AirPlay and wired mirroring, and screen sharing. iPhone Mirroring on a Mac is not one that fact names, so set that Mac to ask every time.

It helps keep the photos you seal out of the grid that a recording might catch. Sealed imports only the photos and videos you choose, and deletes the originals in Photos only when you ask.

It doesn’t cover other apps, the Home Screen or their banners, only its own screen. Sealed’s cover follows what iOS reports as a captured screen: screen recording, AirPlay and wired mirroring, and screen sharing.

It doesn’t reach a recording once it is saved: the video sits in Photos, outside the vault, unless you choose to bring it in. Sealed imports only the photos and videos you choose, and deletes the originals in Photos only when you ask.