iOS 8 And Mac OS X Yosemite Adds Lightning Video Capturing For iPhone And iPad

Lightning video capturing and recording for iPhone’s and iPad’s screen is newly introduced with iOS 8 and Mac OS X 10.10 Yosemite. Apple’s primary intention of lightning video capturing and recording seems to be the use for video app previews, as stated on a Apple developer support page. The iPhone or iPad is set up as a camera on Quicktime player.

Nonetheless, lightning video capturing and recording is also working for iPhone and iPad screen mirroring without any developer login. The sole requirements are a connection via lightning cable, an iPhone or iPad running on iOS 8 and a Mac with Mac OS X 10.10 installed.

Maybe lightning video capturing and recording with iOS 8 and Mac OS X Yosemite could make apps like AirServer, Reflector or X-Mirage redundant, at least on iOS devices with lightning connector and Macs with Mac OS X Yosemite.

I tested the new feature with my iPad air running on iOS 8 and my MacBook pro 13” (retina, late 2013) using an original Apple lightning to USB cable:

1. Connect your iOS devices running on iOS 8 to your Mac running on Mac OS X 10.10 Yosemite via lightning-to-USB cable.
2. Open ‘Quicktime Player‘.
3. Go to ‘File‘ and click on ‘New Movie Recording‘.
4. A new window opens. Click on the white triangle right beside the red recording button and select your iOS devices as a ‘Camera‘.
5. If the screen of your iOS device appears, you start recording by hitting the red button….

This set up works, but the video stability on my Mac was not good, there were several interruptions with a black screen. The reason for this is surely because of the Yosemite beta version. However, the lightning video recording worked without any problems. Here’s my very first lightning video capture taken with my iPad air:

(miApple.me’s Original Source)

Then I tried to make a video capturing with my iPhone 4S, also running on iOS 8. I connected it via “Apple 30-pin to USB Cable” connector, but no connection between my iPhone 4S and my MacBook pro was established. This means you need at leat an iOS device with lightning connector meaning iOS devices iPhone 5, 5S, iPad 4 and iPad air.

Lightning video capturing and recording will give an added value to iOS devices with lightning connectors running on iOS 8 and Macs running on Mac OS X 10.10 Yosemite. For all other iOS devices or Windows PCs you have the fall back option to use apps like AirServer, Reflector or X-Mirage.

Stay tuned! 😉