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How to Take a Scrolling Screenshot on iPhone Without Installing an App

Three ways to capture a long screenshot using only what's built into iOS: full-page capture, Shortcuts, and screen recording. And where each one falls short.

2 min read

You can get a long screenshot on iPhone without downloading anything. It works well in some situations and badly in others. Here's the honest version.

The shared B and C blocks appear once in the stitched image. Illustration, not an app screenshot.
The shared B and C blocks appear once in the stitched image. Illustration, not an app screenshot.

Method 1: Full Page (Safari and other supported views)

  1. Take a screenshot.
  2. On iOS 17 or 18, tap the thumbnail, then the "Full Page" tab at the top. On newer versions, the screenshot editor may open directly.
  3. Tap Done, then Save PDF to Files or Save to Photos. iOS 17 and later support saving full-page captures as images too; cropping is optional.

This is the best option when it's available. It isn't available in most third-party apps; see Why iPhone's Full-Page Screenshot Doesn't Work in Most Apps (And What to Do) for why.

Method 2: Shortcuts "Combine Images"

The Shortcuts app has an action that stacks images vertically. It doesn't detect overlap; it just puts one under the next. So:

  1. Prepare screenshots with no repeated content: take overlapping shots, then manually crop the repeated parts. Scrolling exactly one screen is hard and can miss a line.
  2. Open Shortcuts → new shortcut → add "Select Photos" (allow multiple) → add "Combine Images" (Vertically, spacing 0) → add "Save to Photos" (called "Save to Photo Album" in some older versions).
  3. Run it and pick your screenshots. Check their order in the saved image.

You'll get a stacked image. With spacing set to 0, the action adds no gap. Repeated content and status bars remain unless you crop them out first. For a quick "here's the whole thing" it's fine; for anything you'd share publicly it usually isn't.

Method 3: Screen recording

Record from Control Center while scrolling, then share the video instead of an image. It's not a screenshot, but for sending a long conversation to one person it's often good enough, and it needs nothing.

Where the built-in methods fall short

NeedBuilt-inReality
Chats, comments, most appsFull PageNot available
Clean seamsCombine ImagesNo overlap detection; crop repeated content yourself
One image, full resolutionScreen recordingIt's a video

When an app is worth it

If you do this more than occasionally, a stitching app removes the manual scrolling precision and the seam problem. Tailor and Picsew are the established ones. I built LongShot to be the least-friction version: take overlapping screenshots, double-tap the back of the phone, and a small matching group can be saved to Photos, once a compatible version and shortcut are set up. It checks overlap, but still check the result. The public App Store listing is currently free; the 1.2 beta uses a 10-stitch monthly allowance with a lifetime purchase.

Sources checked: 1 · 2 · 3 · 4 · 5 · 6 · 7 · 8 · 9 · 10 · 11

Something not working? Email me: longshotapp@163.com