How to Get iPhone Screenshots on iPad Without AirDrop
By Roman Resenchuk,
To get iPhone screenshots on iPad, install CloudShots on both devices and sign in to the same iCloud account. Every screenshot you take on the iPhone then appears in the iPad's library through your private iCloud, with no AirDrop and no file to send to yourself.
CloudShots is a screenshot app for iPhone, iPad and Mac that keeps one library in sync, and I build it in my free time. The reel above shows the habit it replaces: taking a screenshot on one device, then pushing it to another by hand.
Why AirDrop to your own iPad is the wrong tool
AirDrop is great for sending something to another person. For your own devices it is a chore with three taps and a wait. You take the screenshot, open the share sheet, pick your iPad, accept it on the iPad, and then find it in Photos among everything else. Do that ten times a week and it becomes a small tax on every workflow where the iPad is the bigger screen.
The deeper problem is that Photos mixes screenshots with every other picture. The one you just sent is a thumbnail between holiday photos and a pet. The tablet was supposed to be the comfortable place to read, and you are scrolling anyway.
How to get iPhone screenshots on iPad, step by step
- Install CloudShots on your iPhone and on your iPad from the App Store.
- Use the same Apple ID on both, so they share the same private iCloud.
- On the iPhone, let CloudShots read your Screenshots album. It syncs them to iCloud.
- Take a screenshot on the iPhone as usual.
- Open CloudShots on the iPad. The screenshot is in the feed.
The iPad app looks like the iPhone app: the same Photos and Settings tabs, and the screenshots in columns that fit the screen. Nothing to configure on the iPad, because the library comes from iCloud.
The same library, with the text already read
A screenshot is more than a picture: it has words in it. CloudShots reads the text inside each screenshot on the device that has it, and that result travels with the screenshot. When the screenshot reaches the iPad, the recognized text is already attached, so you can open the detail screen and read or copy it without waiting for the tablet to do the work again. The guide to finding text in screenshots shows how search uses the same text.
Edits and tags follow the screenshot too, because the library is shared, not copied.
Where the screenshots live
Your screenshots stay in your own private iCloud, in a container that belongs to CloudShots and sits apart from your Photos library. There is no CloudShots server that stores or syncs them, and no account to create: Apple's CloudKit does the storage, the sync and the push. The text recognition runs on your devices.
CloudShots does send diagnostics so crashes can be fixed, and they never include screenshot content. You can opt out in onboarding or Settings. The iCloud screenshot manager page explains the sync in more depth.
What this changes in practice
Say you screenshot a flight booking on the phone while queuing. At the hotel you open the iPad and the booking is already there, with the text readable. You did not AirDrop it, email it, or hunt for it in Photos. The same goes for the other direction: a screenshot taken on the iPad is on the iPhone.
FAQ
How do I get iPhone screenshots on iPad?
Install CloudShots on both devices and sign in with the same Apple ID. Screenshots from the iPhone then show up in the iPad's CloudShots library through your private iCloud.
Do I need AirDrop or a cable?
No. CloudShots syncs through iCloud, so nothing needs to be sent by hand. The iPad simply shows what the iPhone has already synced.
Does CloudShots store my screenshots on its own servers?
No. Your screenshots stay in your private iCloud, and CloudShots has no server that stores them. Diagnostics never include screenshot content and can be turned off.
Does it work with my Mac too?
Yes. CloudShots keeps the same library on iPhone, iPad and Mac, so sync screenshots between Mac and iPhone works the same way.
Transcript
On-screen text: Sending shots to yourself? Every single time. Meet CloudShots. One library. Already on iPad. Shot here, there. Open it big. New shot, synced. Same feed, both screens. CloudShots. Download on CloudShots.app.
More guides
- How to automatically sync screenshots between Mac, iPhone and iPadOne private screenshot history that syncs both ways through iCloud: Mac to iPhone and iPad, and back.
- How to find a screenshot by the text inside itSearch by the words you remember seeing, on any of your devices.
- How to free up the space your screenshots takeClear synced originals from Photos and your Mac without losing your history.
- CloudShots is an iCloud screenshot manager for Mac, iPhone and iPadWhat lives in your own iCloud, how the library limit works, and what stays private.
- One screenshot history for your Mac, iPhone and iPadOne searchable history of every screenshot from your Mac, iPhone and iPad, synced through your own iCloud. Find any shot and free up storage.
- How to pin a screenshot on screen on MacKeep a screenshot floating above your other windows on Mac with ⌘P. Pin up to 6, move and resize them, close with Esc.
- How to redact or blur text and faces in a screenshot on MacBlur, pixelate or cover text, faces and objects in a screenshot on Mac. Redaction in CloudShots is non-destructive: your original stays untouched.
- How to add a background, padding and shadow to a screenshot on MacExport a Mac screenshot with a background, padding, rounded corners and a shadow using Export with Frame in CloudShots. Copy, save or share the result.
- CloudShots compared with a premium all-in-one capture suiteHow CloudShots compares with a premium, paid all-in-one capture and annotation suite for Mac: history, text search, redaction and pricing.
- CloudShots compared with a floating screenshot toolHow CloudShots compares with a floating, pin-on-screen screenshot tool with a quick library: history, text search, redaction and pricing.
- CloudShots compared with a fast capture and text-recognition utilityHow CloudShots compares with a fast, lightweight capture utility with on-screen text recognition: history, text search, redaction and pricing.
- All guides
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