Taking a screenshot on your iPhone is a vital function that everyone should know. On iPhone models with a Home button, pressing the Home and Power buttons together will capture everything that's on your screen. If you have an iPhone without a Home button, the shortcut is instead the Side and Volume Up buttons together.

But what happens if you have an issue with the Home, Side, or another button on your iPhone? In that case, you might not be able to take screenshots normally. Thankfully, there's a way around this.

We'll show you how to take screenshots on your iPhone without using the Home, Power, or Volume Up buttons.

How to Take an iPhone Screenshot Using AssistiveTouch

To use the main method of taking an iPhone screenshot without the Home button, you'll need to enable AssistiveTouch on your iPhone. This is an accessibility feature that allows you to access many of your iPhone's functions from a software menu, instead of having to use buttons for them. It's useful for people who have trouble pressing buttons or using gestures, or if your iPhone has a broken button.

To activate this, head to Settings > Accessibility and choose Touch under Physical and Motor. Choose AssistiveTouch and enable the slider of the same name at the top of the screen to turn it on. This will add a white dot overlay button to your screen.

Whenever you tap this AssistiveTouch icon, it opens a menu that provides quick access to various functions. To easily add screenshot functionality to the menu, select Customize Top Level Menu on the Settings page.

Here, tap an icon you'd like to replace and choose Screenshot from the list of actions. If you'd rather, you can add another icon by tapping the Plus button and creating a new shortcut to Screenshot.

For a really fast way to take a screenshot, you can also use a shortcut to avoid tapping through menus. On the main AssistiveTouch menu, select the Double-Tap or Long Press options and set either one to Screenshot. Then, either quickly tap twice, or press and hold, the AssistiveTouch button to take a screenshot.

This is even more convenient, as you don't have to show the full menu that takes up screen space. You might also find the Create New Gesture option useful if you use the AssistiveTouch shortcuts for other purposes already.

In case you find the AssistiveTouch button annoying, lower the Idle Opacity on the menu to make it more transparent when you're not using it.

How to Take iPhone Screenshots Without the Home Button

Now, you can take a fast iPhone screenshot without any buttons. Just select Screenshot from the AssistiveTouch menu, or perform your assigned tapping shortcut, and your iPhone will take a screenshot. This happens just like the usual method of taking an iPhone screenshot with the buttons.

Note that when you take a screenshot, the AssistiveTouch button and its menu won't appear in the image. You can drag the button to any corner of the screen that you like while you're not using it.

How to Screenshot on iPhone by Tapping

For even more convenience, you can use another iPhone accessibility shortcut to take screenshots without the buttons. This feature is called Back Tap and allows you to perform actions simply by hitting the back of your device with your fingers on supported iPhone models (iPhone 8 and later, running at least iOS 14).

To configure it, head to Settings > Accessibility > Touch > Back Tap. You can customize two actions that happen when you tap twice and three times on the back of your device.

Select Screenshot to take a fast screenshot with a few taps. If you don't want to do this for some reason, try combining this shortcut with AssistiveTouch that we described above. Choose AssistiveTouch for one of your Back Tap shortcuts, and you'll be able to toggle the feature on and off by tapping.

This is an extra step, but if you only take screenshots occasionally, it will keep your screen clear of obstruction.

Ask Siri to Take an iPhone Screenshot

You might not have realized that one of Siri's lesser-known tricks is taking a screenshot for you. Simply summon Siri by saying "Hey Siri," or by pressing and holding the Side button (or the Home button if your iPhone has one). Say "Take a screenshot" and after a moment, Siri will acknowledge the request and snap a screenshot as normal.

This method comes in handy if your hands are dirty, or when you can't perform the gesture to take a screenshot for whatever reason.

So Many Shortcuts to Screenshot on iPhone

Now you know how to take a screenshot on your iPhone, even if you can't use the Home or other buttons. One or more of these methods will suffice for grabbing screenshots while your buttons aren't working.

Otherwise, consider replacing your iPhone when you're able. Working around a broken button gets old after a while.