How to upload PS5 and Xbox screenshots and clips to your phone

You can share your greatest gaming accomplishments or funniest glitches on PlayStation and Xbox without doing any work at all.
 By 
Alex Perry
 on 
Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5
Your captures don't have to be stuck on these boxes anymore. Credit: Phil Barker/Future Publishing via Getty Images

Everyone who likes video games has wanted to share a cool moment or a hilarious glitch they saw with their friends. With both the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series consoles, that’s never been easier.

Just like the PS4 and Xbox One, both consoles come with buttons on their respective controllers dedicated entirely to capturing screenshots and clips. However, you used to have to upload those screenshots to Twitter, OneDrive, or a USB device in order to get them off the consoles and onto your phone, where it’s easiest to share them. By the grace of the universe, that’s no longer the case.

Here’s how to automagically beam captures from either of these gaming consoles to your mobile device.


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How to send PS5 captures to your phone

PS app captures
This is where captures live on the PlayStation app. Credit: Screenshot: PlayStation / Alex Perry

Both the PS5 and Xbox Series X/S are capable of connecting to special mobile apps you can find on your device’s app store, which is the key to making all this capture magic happen. In order to get screenshots from your PS5 to your phone without posting them to Twitter first, download the PlayStation app on iOS or Android. You’ll also want to make sure your PS5’s system software is up to date.

Once you’ve logged into your PlayStation Network account on both the PS5 and in the mobile app, open it and click on the tab along the bottom row that shows six squares set behind a silhouette of the PlayStation controller to access your Game Library. Then, at the top of the screen, switch from “Games” to “Captures.” You should get a prompt to allow automatic capture uploads from the console to the app. Say yes, or else you will have just wasted a lot of time reading this article.

And that’s it! From now on, any screenshot or clip (that’s shorter than three minutes long) you capture using the DualSense's dedicated share button (located to the left of the touchpad) will automatically appear in that section of the mobile app, where it will stay for 14 days. You’ll be able to save and share them from the app as you see fit.

Couldn’t be easier.

How to send Xbox Series S/X captures to your phone

Xbox app captures
Captures galore. Credit: Screenshot: Xbox / Alex Perry

For Xbox users, the process of getting clips from your console to your phone is pretty much exactly the same as it is on PS5. The one difference is that you actually have to do a little less work. We love to hear it.

Download the Xbox app and sign into your Xbox account. Obviously, make sure you’re signed in on the Xbox, too. By default, all captures taken with the share button (located to the left of the home button on the Xbox controller) are uploaded to the “Xbox Network,” a fancy name for a cloud server that can be accessed from the Xbox app. To do so, open the app and go to the tab on the bottom row marked by three vertical lines (with the rightmost line leaning against the other two). 

Your captures live here. To test it out, take a screenshot in-game, wait like 30 seconds, and then open the app to see if it’s there. If this isn’t working, you might have to enable automatic uploads. It should be on by default, but hey, weird things happen sometimes. To do that, follow these simple steps:

  1. Press the Xbox home button on the controller

  2. Navigate to “Profile & System”

  3. Go to “Settings”

  4. Go to “Preferences”

  5. Go to “Capture & Share”

  6. Toggle “Automatically upload” on

If that still doesn’t work for some reason, you can manually upload any capture to the Xbox Network by hitting the button to the left of the home button, selecting the individual screenshot or video you want, and then selecting “Upload.” Give it a little bit of time and it should appear in the Xbox app.

If you love sharing your gaming moments with your buds, using automatic capture uploads on either console will make your life so much easier.

Topics PlayStation Xbox

journalist alex perry looking at a smartphone
Alex Perry
Tech Reporter

Alex Perry is a tech reporter at Mashable who primarily covers video games and consumer tech. Alex has spent most of the last decade reviewing games, smartphones, headphones, and laptops, and he doesn’t plan on stopping anytime soon. He is also a Pisces, a cat lover, and a Kansas City sports fan. Alex can be found on Bluesky at yelix.bsky.social.

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