Apple switched up screenshots in iOS 26 and it's driving me nuts — here's how to get the old version back

1. Navigate to your iPhone's settings

Open the Settings app on your iPhone, scroll down until you see General and tap on it to access your device's core settings. This is where Apple has tucked away many of the system-wide controls, including the new screenshot behavior that came with iOS 26.

The screen capture settings are hidden in this menu, which is probably why a lot of people haven't realized they can actually change it back to how it used to work.

2. Find the screen capture settings

Once you're in the General menu, scroll down a bit until you see Screen Capture. To open the dedicated settings page for how your iPhone handles screenshots, tap on it.

This is a relatively new settings category that Apple added to give us more control over screenshot functionality.

3. Toggle off full screen previews

At the top of the Screen Capture settings page, you'll see Full Screen Previews with a toggle switch next to it. This is the culprit. By default in iOS 26, this setting is turned on, which is why your screenshots now take over the entire screen.

Just tap the toggle to turn it off. The switch will go from green to gray, and your iPhone will immediately go back to the classic screenshot behavior.

Exit out of Settings and take a screenshot to make sure it worked. Press the side button and volume up button at the same time (or whatever method your iPhone uses).

Instead of that annoying full-screen preview, you should now see the familiar small thumbnail appear in the bottom-left corner. You can tap it to edit or share if you want, or just let it disappear after a few seconds.

This is how screenshots are supposed to work, and it's so much better when you're trying to quickly grab information without interruption.