Guide
Record your iPhone screen on your Mac
No cable and no extra software. macOS can put your phone in a window, and ScreenSei records that window like any other.
What you need
- A Mac running macOS 15 or later, on Apple silicon or a T2 chip
- An iPhone running iOS 18 or later
- Both signed into the same Apple Account, with Wi-Fi and Bluetooth on
- The iPhone locked and somewhere near the Mac
How to do it
- 1
Open iPhone Mirroring
It ships with macOS. The first time it asks you to unlock the phone once, then it stays connected. Your iPhone shows up in a window on the desktop.
- 2
Start a recording in ScreenSei
When the source picker opens, choose the iPhone Mirroring window instead of a display. From here on it is an ordinary window recording.
- 3
Drive the phone with your mouse
Tap, scroll, and type from the Mac. Everything you do in the window ends up in the recording.
- 4
Edit like anything else
Cuts, zoom, your camera in the corner, a background behind the phone, and vertical 9:16 export for shorts. Nothing about the workflow is special once the video exists.
What the wireless route costs you
It is worth knowing before you record something long, because none of it is obvious until it bites you.
The phone stays locked
That is how iPhone Mirroring works. You cannot pick the phone up and use it in your hand while it is on screen, so anything you need to show with a real finger has to be filmed another way.
There is some latency
The image travels over the air. It is fine for walking through an app and noticeable if you are showing something that depends on split-second timing.
Quality is capped by the stream
You are recording what macOS receives, not the phone's own display buffer, so a cable still wins on sharpness. For most tutorials the difference does not show.
Where this works well
App walkthroughs, onboarding flows, bug reports, and anything headed for TikTok or Reels, where the phone is the whole point and the export is vertical anyway. If you need the phone in your hand or you are recording a fast game, film it with a camera instead.
Common questions
- Do I need a cable?
- Not for this. That is the whole point of the wireless route. A cable gets you a sharper image and lets you keep using the phone, so it is still the better option when either of those matters.
- Does the audio come through?
- iPhone Mirroring plays the phone's audio through your Mac, so it gets captured with the recording. Your own voice comes from the microphone as usual.
- Will notifications show up in the video?
- They can. Turn on Do Not Disturb on the phone before you start, the same way you would on the Mac.
- Does this work with an iPad?
- iPhone Mirroring is iPhone only. For an iPad, mirror it to the Mac over AirPlay and record that window the same way.
Try it on your own phone
ScreenSei is free to download and records without an account.
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