Display iOS on your Mac - Yosemite

When Apple demonstrated AirPlay a few years ago I got excited. The ability to travel with your iOS device and use it as a way to present information on another screen was awesome. Unfortunately this feature only works for other AirPlay devices (AppleTV, Airport Express or other iOS device.)  

Apple lists the requirements as:

To use AirPlay, you need these:

• iPhone 4 (or later), iPad, iPad mini, or iPod touch (4th generation or later)
• For videos or photos: Apple TV (2nd or 3rd generation)
• For music: Apple TV (2nd or 3rd generation), AirPort Express, or AirPlay-enabled speakers or receivers

So Airplay is convenient if you have a device that supports AirPlay mirroring, but Apple's current line of Macs don't have this feature. Here's the good news, if you updated to Yosemite you can now display your iOS screen on your Mac with ease. You can even record it if you want to! All you need to do is connect your iOS device to your Mac using a USB cable and use the new version of QuickTime.

After you connect your iPhone or iPad to your Mac via the USB cable start QuickTime select "New Movie Recording" from the drop down menu.

Once the "Movie Recording" has been selected a screen will pop up. I don't know why Apple has made the UI so difficult to understand in some Yosemite applications but the selection of the screen isn't obvious. 

Next to the red record button is a small down arrow. If you click that button you will need to select the camera to use,the Microphone and the quality. 

Once you make your selections your iOS device screen will appear. 

If you just want to view what's on the iOS screen you don't need to do anything. If you want to record what you do on your device just place your mouse in the middle of the iOS window and hit the red record circle. 

Make sure to hit the "stop" button when you are done recording and save the file. 

Another of the great reasons to update to Yosemite. Enjoy!