Here’s How to Record Your Samsung Phone Screen Easily

Screen recording on your Android phone may seem like another mundane and not very useful feature. Until you need to capture a special video call with your long distance friend, show tech support the exact error that appears on your device, or create a tutorial for your grandmother on how to change her wallpaper. Suddenly, screen recording becomes less of a mundane feature and more of a must-have.

Fortunately, modern Samsung Galaxy phones come with a built-in screen recorder ready to use at any time. However, it does more than just record your screen. It also lets you draw on the screen while recording, display a selfie video on the screen, and even choose just a portion of the screen to capture. This partial screen recording option is actually one of the coolest new features that Samsung recently added to your Galaxy phone. But unlike full screen recordings, partial screen recordings do not support viewing a PiP selfie video or annotating the screen.

Your Samsung Galaxy’s screen recorder is quite accessible and intuitive. Here’s how to use it.

Screen recording on your Galaxy phone is easy to do from the Quick Settings panel. Here’s how to do it:

1. View what you want to record. It could be an app, a website, or just your home screen.
2. Open the Quick Settings panel by swiping down from the top of the screen.
3. Tap the Screen Recorder tile. If you can’t see it right away, expand the Control Panel or change the Quick Settings to add it.
4. Choose your screen recorder configuration, including the area to record (full screen or partial screen), the audio to record (none, media or media and mic), and whether you want to show taps and touches.
5. Once you’re ready, tap Start Recording.

If you have selected partial screen, you need to adjust the recording frame to your preferred size. Then tap, hold, and drag the white circle to reposition the frame before tapping Save. Keep in mind that you cannot change the selected area while recording. If you switched to full screen, you will automatically see the three-second countdown after recording starts.

While recording in full screen, you can also draw on the screen by selecting the pen icon. Feel free to change the color and width of the line as you wish. If you want to participate in screen recording, just tap the person icon in the floating menu. This adds a selfie video overlay into the recording, which, by the way, is one of the useful Samsung Galaxy features missing in the Pixel (until Android 17 arrives). You can easily drag and drop the selfie video anywhere on the screen.

Every time you start a screen recording, you will be prompted to choose your preferred settings. One of the things you might not know your Samsung phone could do is let you customize the default screen recording settings, so you can start a recording quickly. To change the default settings of your Samsung screen recorder, follow these steps:

In settings, open advanced features.

1. Go to Screenshots and Screen Recordings.
2. To set the audio captured by screen recording, tap “Audio to Record” under Screen Recordings and switch from None to your preferred option (Media or Media & Microphone).
3. To select a new video quality, tap Video quality and choose between High (1080p), Medium (720p), and Low (480p).
4. To resize the selfie video for full-screen recordings, drag the slider from small to large.
5. To no longer show taps and touches in recordings, turn off Show taps and touches.
6. To change where your screen recordings are saved, open “Save screen recordings in” and choose a new folder. By default, your screen recordings are saved to your internal storage under DCIM > Screen Recordings.

When you start a screen recording on your Samsung, you will always receive the setup prompt. But you can skip setting it up and press the start button directly.