In today’s world, a huge flow of information is dumped on a person every day. Often, in this regard, there is a need to filter something, and on the contrary, to put something aside in memory – to make a note not to lose it. A good help in this and many other situations can be screenshots – pictures of what is currently displayed on the screen of your smartphone. As with everything, with screenshots, there are nuances and subtleties. Let’s talk about them in more detail in this text.
How to take a screenshot using Android settings
You can take a screenshot of the phone screen in the Android operating system with the help of standard tools, and in several ways. You can activate or deactivate them through the options menu on the “System settings” tab.
Gestures
The first way to take a screenshot on Android is to use gestures.
- Swipe three fingers from top to bottom on the screen, and the screenshot of your phone will be ready.
- Tap and hold with three fingers anywhere on the display, and a selection frame will open to highlight the area you want to save as a screenshot.
- Tap and hold with three fingers and then swipe them down, and a scrollable screen save will start (more on that later).
Quick Access Panel
You can also take a screenshot in another way – with the Quick Access Panel. It is the one that appears at the top if you swipe down at the top of the screen. There, you need to tap the corresponding icon, which looks like scissors on the background of the display. In some firmware, the icon may not be present by default, but it’s easy to add it to the main menu of the Quick Access Toolbar. To do this, find and click the “Edit/Change” button and drag the screenshot icon to the main area.
How to take a screenshot on an Android smartphone with a combination of buttons
Another easy way to take and save a screenshot of your Android phone screen is to use the physical keys to do so. Press the “power” and “volume down” buttons at the same time, and the screenshot is ready.
Use Google Assistant
If you have Google Assistant enabled on your Android device, you can use voice commands to take a screenshot. Here’s how:
- Say “Hey Google” or long-press the home button to activate Google Assistant.
- Say “Take a screenshot” or “Capture the screen.”
- Google Assistant will take a screenshot and show you a preview.
- You can either share the screenshot directly from the preview or tap on the “Edit” button to make any necessary changes.
Taking a screenshot with the help of apps
In addition to the regular tools, there are many specialized applications in the online store Google Play, with which you can also take screenshots. Let’s take a closer look at some of them.
XRecorder
An advanced and quite popular application with a wide range of features. At the same time, the utility is completely free and will not leave watermarks on the saved content. In addition to the ability to take screenshots, XRecorder allows you to record video from your smartphone screen and offers a basic set of photo and video editing features.
Screenshot touch
Another popular free application with wide functionality, which does not require root rights and provides ample opportunities for editing the captured images. Among the interesting features are the ability to sort screenshots into separate folders, integration with Google Drive, and recording video from the screen in a convenient and universal format .mp4.
Screenshot Pro
The application allows you to take screenshots with a single tap. After in the interface of the application, the image can be cropped, and a tool is also available for easy sorting of screenshots and deleting repetitive pictures.
Screenshots on Individual Brands of Android
Let’s move on to the utilities that are pre-installed on gadgets by major tech manufacturers.
Samsung
In the Galaxy line of devices from the Korean brand Samsung, you can take a screenshot with a special gesture – using the palm of your hand. To do this, slide it with the edge of the screen where you want to save. In addition, after taking a screenshot, there will be a special menu for editing, where you can add special marks, hashtags, draw arrows or other signs.
Xiaomi
In the proprietary shell MIUI from version 8, a widget Quick Ball is available. It can be activated in the settings menu: “Advanced Settings” -> “Touch Assistant”. This is a customizable set of tools, among which you can highlight a separate button for taking screenshots.
LG
Smartphones from the South Korean company LG, depending on the model, have pre-installed Quick Memo or QMemo+ applications. They can be configured so that they are called together with the notification curtain on top of other running applications. Thus, with just one touch, you can take a picture of the entire screen or just a certain part of it, and then add stickers or colorful inscriptions to the image.
Asus
The Taiwanese company did not develop its own utility for taking screenshots. Nevertheless, there is one special way to take a screenshot: press and hold for a few seconds the “Browse application” button in the bottom navigation menu. After that, a menu will open for editing the image and sending it further if necessary.
Motorola and Lenovo
Both brands, Motorola and Lenovo, are owned by a Chinese multinational corporation and are Google’s Android One partners. This means that their devices use unmodified versions of the popular mobile operating system – the “naked Android” (or “pure Android”) – so the firmware does not provide special tools to create screenshots.
At the same time, all the regular means – creating screenshots with gestures, physical buttons, or a special button in the notification bar – are available and can be used safely, as well as separate applications for creating screenshots from Google Play.
Smartwatch on Android Wear OS
If you have a smartwatch running Android Wear OS, you can take a screenshot of your watch face or any app screen with a simple button combination. Here’s how:
- Open the app or screen you want to capture.
- Press and hold the power button on your watch for a few seconds.
- When the menu appears, select “Take screenshot.”
- The screenshot will be saved to your watch’s gallery, which you can access through the Google Photos app on your phone.
- How to take a screenshot with Google Assistant.
How to Take a Scrolling Screenshot on Android Smartphones
There are situations when you need to take a picture of a long web page, the content of which does not fit on one screen. The problem is solved by creating a long screenshot, or a screenshot with scrolling. You can do it in two ways:
- Press and hold down three fingers anywhere on the screen and then swipe down with them. The page will start scrolling, and you can wait until it reaches the end or stop it where you want it beforehand.
- Take a simple screenshot any way you like and wait for the preview icon to appear in the corner. Then, depending on the firmware, either the “Scroll” button will immediately appear under it, and you need to press it, or you first need to press the preview icon and then select “Scroll” in the menu that appears.
