You’re holding an iPhone SE. Maybe it’s the classic 2016 original, the 2020 refresh, or the 2022 5G model. Regardless of the generation, one thing remains true: it’s the only modern iPhone that still lets you feel that satisfying click of a physical Home button. But when you need to capture a receipt, a funny text, or a high score, that Home button is your best friend.
Knowing how to take screenshot in iPhone SE is basically muscle memory once you do it once.
It's fast. It's simple.
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Honestly, it feels a bit more intuitive than the "Face ID" dance you have to do on the newer, buttonless Pro models. You don't have to worry about accidentally locking your screen or triggering Siri because your fingers slipped.
The Standard Method: Buttons are King
Apple hasn't changed the fundamental way you snap a screen on the SE line since the beginning. Because all three generations of the iPhone SE (the 4-inch original and the two 4.7-inch successors) feature a physical or haptic Home button, the process is identical.
To take a screenshot, you need to press two buttons at the exact same time: the Side button (located on the right edge of the device) and the Home button (that circular guy at the bottom of the screen).
On the very first iPhone SE (2016), that "Side button" is actually on the top. If you’re rocking that vintage tech, press the Top button and the Home button together.
You’ll hear a camera shutter sound if your ringer is on. The screen flashes white for a split second. Then, a little thumbnail appears in the bottom-left corner. If you do nothing, it'll slide away after a few seconds and save itself to your Photos app. But if you tap that thumbnail, you enter the "Markup" universe. This is where you can crop out the embarrassing parts of a meme or circle a specific line in an email using the digital pen tools. It’s remarkably powerful for a quick edit.
Using AssistiveTouch when your buttons are acting up
Buttons break. It happens. Or maybe you find it awkward to grip the phone and click both sides simultaneously. If you're struggling with the physical click, there is a software-based way to handle how to take screenshot in iPhone SE without ever touching the hardware.
This lives in the Accessibility menu. Go to Settings > Accessibility > Touch > AssistiveTouch. Flip that switch to "On."
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A little grey floating circle will appear on your screen. You can drag this anywhere. If you tap it, a menu pops up. By default, "Screenshot" might not be in the top-level menu, but you can customize it.
I usually set the "Double-Tap" shortcut for AssistiveTouch to trigger a screenshot. That way, I just tap the floating bubble twice, and boom—captured. No finger gymnastics required. This is a lifesaver for users with motor challenges or if you've dropped your phone one too many times and that Home button feels "mushy."
The "Back Tap" Secret for SE 2nd and 3rd Gen
Here is something most people actually get wrong about the SE. They think because it’s the "budget" phone, it doesn't get the cool gestures.
If you have the iPhone SE (2nd generation, 2020) or the iPhone SE (3rd generation, 2022), you can use Back Tap. This feature uses the internal accelerometer to sense when you're literally drumming your fingers on the back of the glass.
- Open Settings.
- Go to Accessibility.
- Select Touch.
- Scroll all the way down to Back Tap.
- Choose "Double Tap" or "Triple Tap."
- Select Screenshot from the list.
Now, you can just tap the back of your phone twice with your index finger. It works even through most cases, though the thick "rugged" ones might make it a bit finicky. It feels like magic. It’s easily the most underrated way to manage how to take screenshot in iPhone SE while you're holding a coffee or a bag of groceries.
Capturing the "Full Page" (Beyond what you see)
Sometimes a single screen isn't enough. You’re looking at a long recipe on Safari or a 10-page PDF, and you want the whole thing.
Take a screenshot using the normal button method. Tap the thumbnail in the corner before it disappears. At the top of the editing screen, you’ll see two tabs: Screen and Full Page.
Tap Full Page.
iOS will stitch the entire webpage together into one long image. You can use the slider on the right to scroll through the preview. When you hit "Done," Apple will ask if you want to save it as a PDF to your Files app. It won't save to "Photos" as a standard JPEG because the file would be too skinny and long to display correctly. This is an essential trick for researchers or anyone trying to save an article for offline reading later.
Managing your library: Where do they go?
Screenshots can clutter up your library fast. If you’re a power user, your "All Photos" tab will soon be a mess of QR codes, grocery lists, and random DMs.
Apple handles this pretty well. In the Photos app, go to the Albums tab. Scroll down to the "Media Types" section. You’ll find a dedicated folder labeled Screenshots.
Everything you’ve ever captured is automatically sorted there.
If you want to save space, get into the habit of using the "Done" button immediately after taking a screenshot. When you tap the thumbnail to edit, and then hit "Done," you get an option to "Copy and Delete." This is my favorite feature. It puts the image on your clipboard so you can paste it into an iMessage or Slack, but it never actually saves the file to your storage. Your 64GB iPhone SE will thank you for not filling it up with 400 photos of your Amazon tracking page.
Real-world troubleshooting
Sometimes, it just doesn't work.
If your phone is frozen, a screenshot won't trigger. You might need a forced restart. On the SE (2nd and 3rd gen), that's Volume Up, Volume Down, then hold the Side button until the Apple logo appears.
Another common issue: the "Black Screen" screenshot. If you try to take a screenshot of a movie on Netflix, Disney+, or a rented movie on Apple TV, the image will just be a black box. This isn't a bug. It's Digital Rights Management (DRM). The software blocks screen captures to prevent piracy. There is no way around this on a stock iPhone.
Also, check your storage. If you are at 0KB available space, the iPhone will simply refuse to save the file. It won't even give you an error message sometimes; the thumbnail just won't appear.
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Essential Next Steps
To keep your iPhone SE running smoothly while you’re capturing content, start by setting up the Back Tap feature in your Accessibility settings; it's the fastest way to work one-handed. Once that's set, head over to your Photos app and clear out the Screenshots folder every Sunday to reclaim lost storage space. If you're sharing a lot of info with friends, remember to use the "Copy and Delete" trick after tapping the thumbnail to keep your camera roll pristine. Finally, if you ever need to capture an entire webpage, always look for that "Full Page" tab in the markup editor—it's a total game changer for saving documents without needing a third-party app.