The iPhone X was finally revealed earlier this week and, as we all expected, it came with a beautiful new bezel-less OLED display. Of course, the birth of the bezel-less display meant the death of our beloved home button (RIP 2007 – 2017). For weeks we wondered how Apple would deal with the removal of the home button. FaceID replaced TouchID to allow iPhone X owners to unlock their device. Gestures replaced the simple navigation offered by the home button. All the bases seemed to be covered in the keynote except one… How do you take screenshots on iPhone X?!
Screenshots are a pretty handy way of showing others what you see on your own device. You can quickly snap a screenshot of an iMessage conversation and put someone on blast or share an error message you may be seeing in an app. Apple had the “courage” to kill the 3.5mm headphone port and TouchID. Could they have the courage to remove the ability to take screenshots on iPhone X?
No way! Screenshots are too important! Apple saw the light and reworked the screenshot solution on iPhone X. The process still uses a button combination. All users will have to do to take screenshots on iPhone X is press the volume up and sleep/wake buttons at the same time. Simple, easy, quick: the art of the screenshot is alive and well!
Another big question people have had about screenshots on iPhone X is how the will look with the notch at the top. Do screenshots factor in the notch or do they fill in the space to create a nice, rectangular image that will look clean on any device? It’s the question that has kept potential iPhone X buyers awake at night. Thankfully, I have an answer for you. Well, rather, our friend Guilherme Rambo Tweeted an answer for you. According to him, the iPhone X fills in the space where the notch should be when taking a screenshot. See for yourself:
At first glance it may not seem like a big deal. Who cares if the screenshots on the iPhone X have the notch or not? People who own pretty much any other smartphone in the world will care, that’s who. No one wants to see the empty space created by the notch on your $1000 smartphone after you send them a screenshot. We want nice, rectangular screenshots that can fit perfectly into the display of any device.
“But I have seen a lot of screenshots from the iPhone X that don’t fill in the notch!”
That comment will inevitably be posted below if I don’t nip this in the bud. It sounds like the iPhone X simulator that many people have on their development computers is leaving space where the notch should be but actual screenshots on iPhone X fill in the space. There seems to be disconnect between the simulator and the device. Benjamin Geskin mentioned this on Twitter and why he hates the space left for the notch.
This should all be good news for iPhone X buyers. The screenshot did not die alongside TouchID and the screenshots look normal without some weird space for a notch. You can feel confident buying an iPhone X now.