How to Show a Mobile Site to a Client from Your Mac

To show a mobile website on your Mac, you have four options: the browser’s responsive design mode, the iPhone Simulator in Xcode, iPhone Mirroring, or your real iPhone connected with a cable and shown through QuickTime. Responsive mode is fastest; QuickTime with a cable looks most real. Pick by how close to a real phone the client needs it to be, then record that window.

Clients judge a site on their phone. If you only show them the desktop version, the first thing they’ll do after watching is open the staging link on their iPhone and send you a screenshot. Showing the mobile version in the same video saves a round.

The four options at a glance

Option	Looks like a real iPhone	Real touch	Available in the EU	Setup	Good for
Browser responsive mode	~ approximate layout	✗	✓	None	Quick layout checks, early rounds
Xcode Simulator	~ close, iOS rendering	✗ pointer	✓	Install Xcode	Accurate rendering without a phone
iPhone Mirroring	✓ your real iPhone	✗ trackpad	✗	Compatible Mac and iPhone	Real device, controlled from the Mac
QuickTime with a cable	✓ your real iPhone	✓	✓	A cable	The most realistic demo

iPhone Mirroring availability per Apple Support, checked November 2026.

Option 1: browser responsive mode

Both Safari and Chrome can resize a page to phone dimensions inside the browser.

Safari

Chrome

The catch: both are approximations. Apple’s documentation says the presets “don’t represent exact layout, rendering, and behavior as experienced on an actual device”, for example because of the address bar, the on-screen keyboard and how phones handle form fields. Chrome’s documentation calls device mode “a first-order approximation”. Fine for “here’s how the menu collapses on mobile”; not for “here’s exactly what your customers will see”.

When you record responsive mode, record only the area with the phone viewport, not the DevTools panel around it. Our guide to recording one window or part of your screen shows how to select an area.

Option 2: Xcode Simulator

Simulator comes with Xcode, Apple’s developer app, and runs iOS on your Mac. You open Safari inside the simulated iPhone and load the site. Apple’s Safari documentation describes simulators as an accurate way to test pages for iOS without additional devices, and Safari’s Responsive Design Mode can open the current page in a Simulator directly.

• Pros: iOS rendering, the iOS Safari address bar, real form controls and keyboard.
• Cons: Xcode is a large install, and you interact with a pointer instead of a finger. Scrolling with a trackpad looks less natural than a real swipe.

Record the Simulator window on its own. The phone outline and rounded corners make it obvious to the client what they’re looking at.

Option 3: iPhone Mirroring

iPhone Mirroring shows your actual iPhone in a window on your Mac, and you control it with the trackpad and keyboard. According to Apple, you need:

• a Mac with Apple silicon or the T2 Security Chip, running macOS Sequoia 15 or later;
• an iPhone with iOS 18 or later and a passcode;
• both signed in to the same Apple Account with two-factor authentication, with Bluetooth and Wi-Fi on;
• the iPhone locked and near the Mac.

Open the iPhone Mirroring app on the Mac, enter your iPhone passcode if asked, and the iPhone’s screen appears in a window. Because it’s a window on your Mac, you can record it like any other window.

Option 4: your iPhone with a cable and QuickTime

This is the most realistic option: the client sees the real iPhone screen, with real scrolling and real taps, because you’re using the phone with your hands.

You can record in QuickTime directly and save a movie file. If you want your camera bubble and a link to send, record the QuickTime window with your screen recorder instead.

Which one to use

• Early design rounds or a quick question about a breakpoint: responsive mode.
• A mobile review without a phone at hand, or a bug in iOS Safari: Simulator.
• A polished mobile walkthrough, outside the EU: iPhone Mirroring.
• A mobile presentation where it must feel real: cable and QuickTime.

For bug reports, the realistic options matter most. A layout bug in iOS Safari may not appear in Chrome’s device mode at all. If a client sends you the bug, our guide on getting clients to report bugs by video helps them show you exactly what they see.

Recording it for the client

Whichever option you pick, the recording advice is the same:

• Record only the phone window, not your whole desktop.
• Scroll slower than you would on your own phone and pause at each section.
• Say what’s different on mobile: “the menu collapses into this button”, “the pricing table becomes cards”.
• Show desktop and mobile in the same video when the client needs to compare them.

The general browser setup, from a clean profile to cookie banners, is in how to record a website in the browser without the clutter. If the video is a presentation, presenting a design to a client without a meeting has a structure that works.

More on recording on a Mac in general: how to screen record on Mac. And if you send this kind of video every week, see how sending videos to clients works with JustRec.