Soon, You Might Be Able To Record Anything On Your iPhone — Even Snapchats

It should go without saying that you should think carefully before sending a Snap, text, or any other sort of DM containing private or sensitive material. However, a new screen recording tool in the beta version of iOS 11 (available now to anyone who enrolls in the free Apple Beta Software Program) makes thinking twice before hitting send all the more important.

Screen Recording seems to do exactly what its name implies: Turn it on, and every action you take on your screen will be recorded, whether you're watching a Snap or viewing a disappearing message in Instagram. As many Twitter users trialing iOS 11 have been quick to point out, this could cause issues since the sender of the message you're recording currently receives no notification.

If you have the beta version of iOS 11, you can add the tool to your Control Center by going to Settings > Control Center > Customize Controls and tapping the green plus to the left of Screen Recording.

Then, swipe up to access your Control Center, where you'll see a circular record icon. Tapping that turns the icon red and initiates a three-second countdown after which everything you do on your screen will be recorded. You'll see a blue bar along the top of the screen to indicate that recording is taking place.

Right now, this bar does not appear when you're watching a Snap, although the recording is still taking place. A recording ends when you tap that blue bar or return to the icon in your Control Center and press to "Stop Recording." After that, the mp4 file of your recording will save to your camera roll for you to do with it as you please.

Cautionary tweets aside, there are many positive applications of screen recording. If you want to show someone how to do something on their phone, it's far easier to just record yourself doing it and text the video than it is to explain over the phone. For developers and teachers, there are educational components as well. If you're talking to a family member over FaceTime and want to record the conversation for memory's sake, you can do that, too, though it's in your best interest to tell them you're recording.

The functions are still being tested by Apple, so this is just a preview. There's still time before the public version of iOS 11 rolls out this fall for tweaks to be made. But for now — and always — make sure you're only sending sensitive content to someone who will respect your privacy.