Send Mac Screenshots to iPhone: Terminal Output for Developers
By Roman Resenchuk,
To send Mac screenshots to iPhone, install CloudShots on both and sign in with the same Apple ID. A screenshot of your terminal, a stack trace or a dev server log on the Mac then appears in your iPhone's CloudShots feed through your private iCloud, without a cable, an email or a photo of your monitor.
CloudShots is a screenshot app for Mac, iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch that keeps one library in sync, and I build it in my free time as an iOS and macOS developer. The reel above is a developer habit that deserves to end: holding a phone up to a monitor.
The terminal output you need somewhere else
Developers read a lot of text off screens. A failing build, a stack trace, a server port, an environment error, the exact command that finally worked. Half the time you need that text on another device: the phone you are testing on, or the phone you will use at the meeting where you explain it.
The usual workarounds are all a little ridiculous. You photograph the monitor and get moire and glare. You paste into a chat to yourself and wait for it to sync. You email yourself a log. You walk to the phone and type a port number by hand. A screenshot is already the right object, and it should just be there.
How to send Mac screenshots to iPhone, step by step
- Install CloudShots on your Mac and on your iPhone, using the same Apple ID on both.
- On the Mac, choose the folder CloudShots watches, or use its capture shortcut.
- Take a screenshot of the terminal as you normally would.
- Open CloudShots on your iPhone.
- The screenshot is in the feed, next to the ones you took on the phone.
There is no pairing code and no file to select. Both devices read from the same library in your private iCloud. The page on how to sync screenshots between Mac and iPhone describes the flow in detail.
What you get on the phone
Open the screenshot on the iPhone and the text in it is recognized on the device, so you can copy a command, a URL or a port number instead of retyping it. Search covers the same text: type a word from the error message and CloudShots finds the screenshot where it appeared. The guide to finding text in screenshots shows how search works.
I do not claim that it understands code. It reads text from a picture, and the result is as good as the picture: crisp terminal text works well, a tiny font on a blurry capture works less well.
The other direction
It runs both ways. A screenshot taken on the iPhone, such as a crash on the device you are testing on, shows up in the Mac panel at the edge of the screen, beside your editor. Space opens Quick Look on it. You can pin a screenshot on screen while you fix the bug.
Where the data goes
The screenshots stay in your private iCloud, in a container that belongs to CloudShots and sits apart from your Photos library. CloudShots has no server that stores or syncs them, and there is no account to create. Terminal screenshots can contain secrets, so this matters: the library is yours, not mine. 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. Read more on the iCloud screenshot manager page.
FAQ
How do I send Mac screenshots to iPhone?
Install CloudShots on your Mac and iPhone with the same Apple ID. A screenshot taken on the Mac then appears in the iPhone's CloudShots feed through your private iCloud.
Do I need a cable or AirDrop?
No. CloudShots syncs through iCloud, so the screenshot arrives on its own. Both devices only need to share the same Apple ID and a connection.
Can I copy the text from a terminal screenshot on my iPhone?
Yes. CloudShots reads the text inside each screenshot on your device, so you can open it and copy a command, a URL or a number. Download CloudShots for both devices.
Does CloudShots keep my terminal screenshots on its servers?
No. Your screenshots stay in your private iCloud, and CloudShots has no server that stores them. Diagnostics never include screenshot content.
Transcript
On-screen text: Shooting your monitor? Blurry. Crooked. Again. Take a screenshot. It lands in the panel. Meet CloudShots. Already on your iPhone. Dev server, in your pocket. Dev server on Mac. Same shot on iPhone. 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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