With the arrival of iOS 13, you can take screenshots of web pages and edit them instantly. Here's how to do it
Before iOS 11, a screenshot was simply a snapshot of your screen. With the arrival of editing tools, things changed, but now, with the iOS 13 update, Apple's screenshot editor is even more powerful. Using the "Edit" feature, you can edit screen snapshots and photos, select a different opacity level, change font thickness, and even add a signature to a PDF document.
But unlike regular screenshots that are saved as png files, screenshots of web pages on the iPhone are saved as PDFs. Web page screenshots in PDF cannot be saved in the Photos app, but you can still store them using the "Files" app by creating a specific folder within your local "On My iPhone" drive. This feature can be very useful for those who usually prefer to save articles to be read offline at a later time.
Screenshot on iPhone: how it works
To take a screenshot of a web page in Safari you have to use the side button and the volume "+" key on devices with "Face ID", the volume "+" side button together with the "Home" key on devices with "Touch ID" or "AssistiveTouch". Immediately at the bottom left corner you will see a preview of the image that you need to click on immediately in order to edit it. Tapping on the preview will bring up the tools you can use to edit the screenshot.
View and edit the full page screenshot
At the top of the screenshot editor you will see the following tabs: "Screen" and "Full Page". The first tab features the screenshot showing exactly what appears on the screen when you took it, while the "Full Page" tab lets you view the entire web page from start to finish. A scroll bar highlights the currently highlighted section.
To change the length of the screenshot, simply use the crop icon in the top left toolbar and make any necessary changes. To save the changes made to the screenshot, just click on "Done". After that you can make other changes to further customize the screenshot according to your needs. You can write on the image, enlarge parts of it, add shapes and draw. There are also new tools for dulling the image and a set of useful rulers.
Share and save screenshot to PDF
As mentioned above, the screenshot can't be saved to "Photos", but must be stored as a PDF file in the "File" app. From the "File" app, you can share the saved screenshot by tapping on the "Share" icon. The screenshot can be shared via Messages, AirDrop, Mail and other online messaging services, just add them or select them from the action list. The document can also be renamed if necessary, as well as saved by choosing the option "On my iPhone", "iCloud Drive", but also on a personal server or a third-party cloud service.
Still in "File" you can edit the screenshot again to share it again, but also copy it, print it, save it to Dropbox. Unfortunately, at least for now, full-page screenshots seem to work only on Safari and not on third-party browsers like Chrome and Firefox, nor with in-app browsers like the one built into the Reddit app. There are many who hope that in the future, this feature may be available for other widely used apps such as Messages, WhatsApp, Firefox and more.