Zwift co-CEO Eric Min has been teasing Strava followers for months with short recordings of his Zwift rides, and yesterday Zwift finally took their new “Video Screenshots” feature live. While it’s only available on certain Apple devices at this time, Zwift says all devices will be supported “shortly”.
Here’s a quick sample recorded on my iPhone:
Supported Devices
This feature is only available for iOS (iPhone and iPad) and Mac users at this time.
Zwift says “This feature is available today on iOS and MacOS devices, followed shortly by TVOS, Android, and other devices.”
How It Works
Recording
Recording a “video screenshot” is easy – just bring up the action bar (by tapping on the screen in iOS, or clicking the screen or hitting your up arrow on Mac) and tap the filmstrip icon:
Coming soon, you’ll also be able to tap the same icon in your Companion app.
Tapping this icon saves the last 15 seconds of gameplay onto your device. So this isn’t a “start recording/stop recording” sort of feature, but rather a simple one-click tool that saves your most recent 15 seconds.
Handily, Zwift’s existing “notable moments” feature which takes snapshots of activity highlights will also record video clips of those highlights, which include:
Manually recording will often not be necessary, though, since most of your highlights will be automatically recorded as Video Screenshots thanks to Zwift’s notable moments feature. Automatically recorded highlights include:
- Taking a segment jersey
- Setting a new PR
- Finishing a challenge or mission
- Gaining a level
- Unlocking an achievement
- Finishing an event
- Completing a workout or training plan
- Completing a new route
This means most of the highlights you’d want to record should be automatically saved to a video clip.
Saving to Strava
When saving your activity, video clips are indicated by a filmstrip overlay:
If you’ve got your Strava account connected to your Zwift account, you can select 1 video to upload to Strava, and up to 5 photos, when you save your activity.
All video snippets are saved on your Zwift device, where (just like photos) and you can upload them to social media sites, or do anything else you’d like (including deleting the files).
Turning it Off
Want to disable the recording of video screenshots entirely? It’s easy to do, from your main settings menu:
A First for Strava
Zwift’s press release notes that “Zwift is the first Strava partner to take advantage of the video API since Strava launched video functionality for its community of over 100 million athletes globally in June of 2022.”
Questions or Comments?
Post below!
I was just thinking about this the other day — they read my mind! Even better would be slow-motion cinematic footage of sprint finishes for big events. Imagine a virtual camera swooping down to the side of the finish line, showing wheel gaps right at the line. Complete with pain faces on the riders. That would be awesome!
Yes! A video replay of the finish from a drone would be fantastic!
The times I’d probably be most interested in this (e.g. right after a sprint or setting a new PR on a climb), my coordination is likely to be shot for much of the 15 seconds until the window has passed as I’m panting and trying not to fall over (or just trying not to get dropped by the pack), so I doubt I’d be able to successfully use this feature. As someone who records/streams most of his races/route recons anyway, it’s much easier for me to go into twitch afterward and create a clip that I can save/download/export to youtube/whatever.… Read more »
Notable moment will record automatically. See above.
Fair enough. I missed that in my initial read.
GP Llama said in his video that there is no video button on the companion app yet, but you indicate it is already there?
Yeah, that’s coming soon. I just added that note above.
Is there an associated key command yet?
Not that I’m aware of.
I have version for Mac (1.33.3) which I believe is the latest but I don’t have option to record videos as shown – not the option in the settings list and not in the action bar. Any Ideas?
iPad mini gen6, ver 1.33.3, same
Part of me thinks that this might be a limited release to some riders. No video replays available in macOS on two computers.
I will test myself. But, does this capture a video of yourself, or, I assume it’ll capture whatever was on your screen.
As a ride leader where we have some ‘in group ride race sections’, this would be useful to capture the finish to include in a ride report.
Since we are talking video, why in the past month are riders bouncing fore and aft while in 3rd person view?
Especially in #2: Forward facing. It’s not as apparent on your video above. However when I’m riding in #2 camera view, riders shift rapidly back and forth.
Was this pushed out on an update? I have zwift on my iPhone and apple TV but I don’t see the feature on either and there is no update to the apps..???
It was included in the latest major update… but feature-flagged, so Zwift can enable it on a per-user basis as a rollout when they desire. Maybe contact Zwift support and ask? Not sure what else to tell ya!
Very cool! This automatic video selection is crucial. I mean, preparing yourself for the final sprint royale should not be affected by searching some button on your companion app… that would be like opening Schrödingers box.
Not sure if anyone can help but i figure out on apple TV there’s no photo button (neither the video ofc) but the photo should be available.
I have an Android and only have the Apple TV from iOS system and no phone so i can take a picture on the companion app but i didn’t appear in menu of Apple TV if i select from there directly.
It’s required to have some phone to save those photos/videos or is something that i’m missing to configure on apple tv? like some icloud turn on option i missed?
Thanks
Would love to know the answer to this too! I was previously using Zwift on my iPad and it was so easy to take screenshots. Now that I run from Apple TV, I can’t figure out how to take pictures. (My new setup is Zwift on Apple TV, Companion app on iPad.)
Completely redudant!!
I had read elsewhere the “H” key enables the bottom-icon menu, is this correct?
No. H hides the HUD.
it was on my ipad on the day it was released, but in the next day until today it is missing from my ipad, anyone experience the same?
Hi, I run Zwift on a 2014 iMac using macOS 11.7.1. I can’t update to Mac OS 12. Do you know whether there are plans to introduce the video screenshot feature to this spec at any time?
I still dont have that video function on my ipad, appletv or iphone. Do I need to uninstall the app and reinstall? Thanks.
It is very interesting after a month rolling out.
I have iPhone working after a few email to get a support ticket
but my ipad (gen 1 ipad pro) is not working. May have to try MacBook again tonight.
Wonder it is a new phone/ipad only thing
I looked today and my MacBook Pro doesn’t have it yet.
The video recording feature is not available on my older MacMini. Is it only available on newer Mac OS?
Not sure. Reach out to Zwift support?
When will the feature be released for the Windows platform?
Don’t know – Zwift hasn’t given any target dates.
I just checked my 2020 MacBook Pro on the latest build and it’s not an option. Is there an issue with it on laptops? It’s on my iPhone but I don’t Zwift on that.
Not sure – you could reach out to Zwift support and ask!
Same situation here. It looks like it is being rolled out to M1 or newer Macs first then possibly older Macs https://forums.zwift.com/t/zwift-video-screenshots-apple-release-february-2023/601940/55