iOS 15, macOS Monterey will support 15-second gameplay recordings via a game controller button

Sayonara Wild Hearts and Apple Arcade with a DualShock 4 controller
Sayonara Wild Hearts and Apple Arcade with a DualShock 4 controller (Image credit: Christine Romero-Chan / iMore)

What you need to know

  • iOS 15, iPadOS 15, and macOS Monterey will allow the recording of 15-second gameplay videos.
  • Gamers can long-press a designated button on a game controller to capture the video.

Apple's upcoming iOS 15, iPadOS 15, and macOS Monterey releases will allow gamers to record a 15-second clip of their gameplay without ever taking their hands off the controller. A long press of a designated button is all that's needed.

Announced during the ongoing WWDC event and spied by MacRumors, the feature will work with any compatible game controller including the Xbox Series X/S controller or the PS5 DualSense controllers. Apple says gamers can look forward to "an awesome way to let gamers capture a great boss battle, an amazing combo move, or an epic fail."

Instead of having to remember to start and stop a screen recording while playing a game, this optional new feature allows iPhone, iPad, and Mac users to capture 15-second highlight videos by simply long pressing the Share (or Create) button on a supported game controller, such as the Xbox Series X/S controller or the PS5 DualSense controller.

Apple's big software updates will all be made available to the public later this fall. The initial beta releases are in the hands of developers, while a public beta program will go live next month.

You will of course need a game controller for this to work. These are some of the best game controllers for iPhone – and they'll work perfectly well with other Apple devices, too.

Oliver Haslam
Contributor

Oliver Haslam has written about Apple and the wider technology business for more than a decade with bylines on How-To Geek, PC Mag, iDownloadBlog, and many more. He has also been published in print for Macworld, including cover stories. At iMore, Oliver is involved in daily news coverage and, not being short of opinions, has been known to 'explain' those thoughts in more detail, too. Having grown up using PCs and spending far too much money on graphics card and flashy RAM, Oliver switched to the Mac with a G5 iMac and hasn't looked back. Since then he's seen the growth of the smartphone world, backed by iPhone, and new product categories come and go. Current expertise includes iOS, macOS, streaming services, and pretty much anything that has a battery or plugs into a wall. Oliver also covers mobile gaming for iMore, with Apple Arcade a particular focus. He's been gaming since the Atari 2600 days and still struggles to comprehend the fact he can play console quality titles on his pocket computer.