In iOS 9, Apple added a neat mark-up feature to the Mail app. If you were attaching an image with a message, you could draw over it, magnify a portion of it, and add your signature to it among other things. This mark-up feature existed solely in the Mail app. The mark-up editor couldn’t be accessed in the Photos app. In iOS 11, this mark-up editor is now available for screenshots. Screenshots in iOS 11 have a new interface. When you take a screenshot, instead of your screen flashing once accompanied by the camera sound, your captured screenshot is appended to the bottom left of the screen. If you tap this screenshot, you’re taken to the familiar mark-up tool from the Mail app. This tool is what allows you to mark up screenshots in iOS 11.
Capture Screenshots
The method for capturing a screenshot on an iOS device has not changed. Just press the Power and Home button at the same time to take a screenshot. In iOS 11 your captured screenshot will appear at the bottom left of your screen. You can swipe left on the thumbnail to dismiss it and automatically save it to the Photos app. You can continue taking screenshots even with the thumbnail on your screen. The thumbnail will not be present in the final screenshot.
Mark Up Screenshots
To mark up screenshots in iOS 11, tap the thumbnail that appears at the bottom left of your screen when you capture it. If you dismiss the screenshot, you won’t be able to edit it again with the mark-up tool. If you’ve taken a whole bunch of screenshots, you can edit them all by swiping left to go to the next one inside the mark up tool.
The mark-up tools includes a felt tip pen tool, a marker tool, a pencil tool, a dotted line tool, and an eraser tool. You can add text and your signature to a screenshot. There’s a magnifying tool that lets you enlarge a portion of the screenshot, and you can insert a few common shapes to it. To access the signature, text, shape, and magnifier tools, tap the blue plus button at the bottom right of the mark up screen.
You can pinch in and out on the screenshot to zoom in/out. There’s a undo and redo button at the top. The color selection for the drawing and text tools is limited to white, black, blue, green, yellow, and red. Once you’re done marking up a screenshot, tap ‘Done’ and select ‘Save to Photos’ in the menu that pops up.
The feature is great and all but it’s limited if you can’t access it for all images. You might have an older screenshot that you want to mark up but the tool simply won’t allow it.