How to Screen Record on Any Smartphone: A Complete Guide
Both Android and iPhone devices come with built-in screen recording tools that require no extra apps. Here's a rundown of the steps for the major platforms and the leading third-party alternatives.
Recording your phone's screen comes in handy for plenty of everyday situations — showing a friend an app glitch, capturing a high score in a mobile game, or putting together a tutorial video. The good news is that both Android and iOS already include this feature at no extra cost.
Google Pixel and Samsung Galaxy
On a Google Pixel, open the full Quick Settings panel by swiping down with two fingers, then look for the Screen recorder tile. Before starting, you can choose whether to show screen taps, overlay the selfie camera, and capture audio from apps or the microphone. Recording can cover the whole screen or a single app, and the finished clip is saved to Google Photos.
On a Samsung Galaxy, the process is similar but the Screen recorder icon is found by pulling down the notification shade twice. Users can pick between full or partial screen capture and choose from three audio modes — none, media only, or media plus microphone. During recording, an overlay widget appears for adding annotations or a camera feed. The resulting video is stored in Samsung Gallery and, if installed, Google Photos.
iPhone
On an iPhone, the screen recorder is launched from Control Center by swiping down from the top-right corner and tapping the record icon; if it's missing, it can be added through settings. Holding the button down lets users pick a different destination app, such as Facebook or WhatsApp for streaming, and toggle microphone audio, since the phone's system sound is always included. Finished recordings land in the Photos app.
Third-Party Apps
Because of security restrictions, iOS limits what outside apps can do, so most simply rely on the built-in recorder. Android offers more flexibility, with apps like AZ Recorder and Mobizen Screen Recorder providing extra editing features, though removing ads and watermarks requires a paid subscription.
