iPod Screen Capture Tutorial: How to Take a Screenshot on New iPod Touch Devices

Why You Might Use This Function

Some mobile versions of websites allow you to save images from Web searches or app wallpapers with the click of a button, but not every site offers this functionality. Also, sometimes you might want to save an image of an app-in-progress. Ordinarily, it would take another app to achieve this functionality. The problem with using another app for a screen capture is that since the app that you would like a screenshot of is already in progress, switching to a new one sometimes isn’t possible. That’s why you can do it with a few clicks with the iPod touch buttons themselves.

So, if you want to know how to take a screenshot on an iPod touch, read ahead, and you’ll find out just how easy it is.

How to Capture a Screenshot

You can take an iPod screen capture at any time while using your iPod touch. You don’t have to be at a standstill or on an image. You can take the picture while watching a movie, listening to music, surfing the Net, watching YouTube videos or playing any app.

When you reach a visual on your iPod touch that you’d like to take a picture of, press the home button and power button at the same time. You’ll see a sharp white flash on your screen; don’t be alarmed – that means you just captured the image.

To look at your picture, navigate to the photos section of your iPod touch. Under the Saved Photos directory, you’ll see an image of your new screenshot. You can now set it as your background, text it, email it or just save it to look at for future reference. The picture size will be the same size as the screen, although you can blow it up like other images to make it bigger. Note, however, that enlarging the screenshot will cause it to lose some resolution, making it a lower quality image.

Retrieving the Photo on Your Computer

When you take a screenshot on an iPod touch, it saves it to the hard drive area of your iPod touch. This is distinct from the synced photos area that you sync with your iTunes library each time you plug in your iPod. This is technically called the Camera Roll of your iPod touch, but the device won’t be labeled as such. If you have both the iTunes library and the Camera Roll on your device, there will be two albums appearing in the photos section of your iPod touch, but only the Camera Roll appears on the computer.

To copy the screenshot from your iPod touch to your computer, follow these instructions:

First, plug the iPod touch into the computer using the USB cable that comes with the iPod. Wait for a popup box that prompts you to view the files on the iPod touch. Select the iPod folder that appears.

In this folder, you’ll see photos of any images you’ve saved to your iPod touch while using it for browsing or saving photos from Web searches or apps. Note that these do not appear in your iTunes photo library.

To copy the photo, simply click and drag it to a folder on your computer or right-click and select copy. Paste it in the desired folder. This process is the same as any other copy-and-paste process on your computer.

This process works on the iPhone as well. However, it won’t work on iPod devices that do not have browsing abilities. Thus, this won’t work for the shuffle, nano or classic.

The Trick to the Method

Here’s the thing about taking a screenshot: sometimes, if you don’t hit the buttons just right, you’ll end up closing out of the app – or hitting only the power button, which will put it to sleep until you unlock it. That’s no problem for those with the iOS 4 on their iPod touch devices, since this allows multitasking. But for those with the previous operating systems, this will close what you were doing and might ruin your opportunity of taking an iPod screen capture.

Thus, the trick to getting it right is to really make sure you’re pressing down on the home button. The power button is easier to press down than the home button, which means you’re likely to shut the device off if you’re not careful. Make sure you use both hands – don’t try to multitask with the fingers on only one hand!

It’s easiest if you use your left hand to press the power button and your right hand to press the home button. The app or search will resume as soon as you’re finished taking the picture, so the screenshot won’t disrupt anything that you’re currently working on.

If you do miss the shot, it’s not the end of the world. In most cases, you can bring the image search back up and try again to take the photo.

References

Source: Author’s own experience using the iPod touch.

Image credit: DigitalTrends.com