How to record screen on Android

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2021-01-31
Abraham Miller

If you have to keep a video of your gameplay or you need to share a "how-to" video to your friends, screen record is the simplest way to get it done without stress. While some phones running on Android 10 and later has an inbuilt screen recorder, not every phone has it, and not everyone knows how to use it. Whether or not your phone has a native screen recorder, below are various ways about how to record screen on Android.

Screen Recorder on Android 10

One of the proposed features on Android 10 beta was the native screen recorder. But eventually, it didn't arrive with the final release. However, many Android phones from manufacturers like TECNO and Infinix has implemented a native screen recorder that does the job without issues on their phone. If you have an Android 10 device and above, you probably don't need a third-party app to record your screen. You can do screen recording on Android right from your quick-settings panel, and it will save as a video to your gallery. Here's how to do it.

Step 1: Open your quick-settings panel by swiping down twice from the top of the screen and find the Screen Record tile there. It is usually in the second row, and it might carry an unfamiliar name on your phone.

Step 2: From there, tap on the Screen Recorder tile and grant it all necessary permissions. After that, you can safely start recording your screen. A bubble would show up on the screen showing the record duration; you can tap on it to stop the record and save it to your gallery.

On TECNO and Infinix phones, you can select if you want a silent screen recording or voiced recording, which takes sounds from the microphone, before starting the screen record. They even take it up a bit by letting you choose the video quality and show screen touches while recording. Just long-press the Screen Record tile to see the options.

Smart Panel on some phones

If you can record screen on Android following the method above, Smart Panel is the quickest way to start the screen record, though not available on every phone. But if you use a TECNO or Infinix smartphone, it's a bonus for you. Smart panel is just like a side panel (launcher) where you can jump to an app or shortcut easily by swiping out from the edge of your screen. If you have this feature on your phone, you can add the screen record feature as a shortcut there to start it from anywhere.

In case you have a TECNO or Infinix phone, but you're new to the smart panel, you need to enable it from your device's settings first.

Step 1: Just open your Settings app and click the Smart Panel to configure it. After that, you would see the panel hanging around the edge of your screen, swipe it out to open the Smart Panel.

Step 2: On the smart panel, tap Screen Record and select your recording option to record your screen.

Step 3: Tap the floating bubble to stop the record when you're done.

Using third-party apps

Besides using the inbuilt screen recorder on your phone, there are some android screen recorder apps you can get on the Play Store that offers even better recording options. And if you don't have a native screen recorder on your phone, below are various ways to make screen records on your Android phone.

  • Google Play Games

If you're peculiar about recording your screen while playing games, then you should try out Google Play Games. What's fancy about using Play Games is that you can record  gameplay on Android with footage of your face from your selfie camera. It can only record at 720p HD or 480p SD video quality of which you can also edit and upload directly to your YouTube channel after the gameplay. To use this feature, you need to have Google Play Games on your phone or download it from the Play store then follow the steps below.

Step 1: Open Play Games from your app drawer and select the game you want to record from the app's interface.

Step 2: Look at the top right corner of the screen and tap the Record button. Now select your preferred video quality, then tap Launch to start the game.

Step 3: Grant Play Games the permission to record your screen and proceed to the game. As soon as the game finishes launching, you'll see a video bubble showing your face, a red record button, video control button, and a mic button. Simply drag the bubble to a perfect position and tap the red button to start recording your gameplay. You can always hit the bubble to show the controls when you need them.

Step 4: When you're done with the game, tap the red button again to stop recording. The video would be saved to your gallery. You can also edit and share to YouTube from there. Drag the bubble to the middle of the screen to remove it.

  • AZ Screen Recorder

If your phone doesn't come a with a native screen recorder, AZ screen recorder is one of the best third-party apps you can use to record your screen on Android. It even lets you tweak the video output in various ways as compared to the native screen recorder. You can change parameters like frame rate, bit-rate, screen resolution, and others within the app. The app is simple to use, and you can control it using the floating bubble or via the notification panel. All you need is grant the app all necessary permissions and follow the steps below to record your screen using AZ Screen Recorder.

Step 1: Launch the app on your phone to launch the floating bubble. Now tap the orange floating around and select the Video button. Tap START NOW to start recording your screen.

Step 2: You screen recording starts now. Navigate through everything you want to record on your phone, then tap the orange bubble again to stop the screen record.

Step 3: After saving the video, tap the bubble again and select the animated four-square button to launch the app's interface where you can browse and edit the recorded videos. You can also tweak the recording options from there to suit your needs.

  • Screen Recorder from Kimcy929

This app works similarly to AZ Screen Recorder. It has options to change frame rate, bit-rate, resolution, video encoder, etc. It doesn't have much editing tools like AZ Screen Recorder, but it lets you trim recorded videos right in the app. To get started first download screen recorder from the Play Store and follow the simple guides below.

Step 1: Open the app and grant the required permissions. After that, tap the blue Record button below the screen to launch the floating controls.

Step 2: Now go to the screen you want to record and tap the red Record button to start. If you wish to add footage of your face to the video, simply swipe down the notification panel and tap the face icon on the screen recorder's notification. You can also do a kind of live markup while recording your screen. To do that, swipe down the notification panel once again and tap the pencil button.

Step 3: Once you're done with the screen record, you can stop it from the notification panel and it will be saved to your gallery.

This app offers many options to tweak your screen record experience. Navigate to the settings page in the app to view them.