Record a bug report video: show the problem and say what you expected

What a good bug video shows

• Where you started: open the screen before the problem, not the problem itself.
• Every step, slowly enough to follow, saying what you tap or click.
• What happened, and in a sentence what you expected to happen instead.
• The app version and the device, said out loud or shown in the app's settings, at the end.

Talk while you record

Narration is what turns a recording into a report: "I tap Save, nothing happens, I expected the file to appear here." On iPhone and iPad the microphone is switched on in the sheet iOS shows when you tap record — the Microphone button there has to read Microphone On before you start, because a voice cannot be added to the recording afterwards. On a Mac, Reel records the default microphone; set its level in Settings → Audio.

Show what you touch

Reel does not draw taps on iPhone and iPad — iOS does not show touches in screen recordings — so say each tap as you make it, and pause a moment on each screen. On a Mac the pointer is in the recording; move it to what you are about to click before you click.

Keep the video short and the file small

Thirty seconds to two minutes is plenty. Start with the steps, not with an introduction. On a Mac, resolution is what decides the size — roughly 28 MB a minute at 720p and 62 MB at 1080p — so a bug report rarely needs more than 720p; lowering the frame rate does not make files smaller.

Keep private things out

Everything on the screen is in the file. Turn on Do Not Disturb or a Focus so a message does not appear mid-recording, close tabs and windows you would not show a stranger, and on a Mac move them to another display — Reel records one display.

Send it

On iPhone and iPad the MP4 is in Photos: share it from there by Mail, Messages, AirDrop or Save to Files, or attach it to the support form. On a Mac, a save dialog asks where to put it when you stop; attach that file.