How to Take a screenshot in Android phone

Taking or capturing a screenshot on an Android smartphone or tablet is not as easy as pressing a single button. But I wish it could be. One of the most frustrating experiences regarding taking a screenshot while trying to capture the particular scene in motion, like trying to capture a screenshot from a video clip or a screen that quickly disappears. It is also disappointing if you feel processing to take a screen capture and almost turn off your phone instead.

Some Android phones have adopted some different way to eliminate this complex problem, making it easier to take a screenshot. Unlike the newer iPhone devices that have only a single way to take a screenshot.

Here, we will share some standard methods to take a screenshot available in all Android phones. Also, we will discuss how to take a screenshot on Samsung and Motorola smartphones that offer their own way for it.

The primary and standard method that maximum Android phones and tablet allows:

The most basic and standard method that nearly all Android phones or tablets allow is to take a screenshot by slightly pressing the volume down and power buttons simultaneously. Press both buttons simultaneously for a short moment and you will hear a camera sound, the device screen goes flash, and a thumbnail of the captured screenshot appears as a notification.

Some Android smartphones like Pixel 4XL need to press the volume down and power button for a few seconds. Some other Android smartphones like the OnePlus 8 Pro capture a screenshot when you quickly press both buttons without holding them for a few seconds.

Even some phones and tablet manufacturers gave their own different methods to take screenshots on Android. They replace the primary and default options to capture a screenshot on Android.

Google phones

• Nexus: To take a screenshot in Google's Nexus phone, press the volume down and power buttons at the same time for a few second.
• Pixels: To take a screenshot in Google Pixels phone, press the volume down and power buttons for a few seconds simultaneously.

Sony phones

The different models of Sony phones offer a different way to take a screenshot. Look at below two methods that your phone can allow.

• Press the volume down and power buttons together at the same time for a few second.
• Press down the power button until a screen appears and allows tap Take screenshot.

Acer phones

To take a screenshot in Acer smartphones considered either of the following two ways:

• Press the volume down and power buttons simultaneously for a few second.
• Pull down the notification panel from top of screen and visit the quick settings section and click on the Screenshot

Asus phones

• Press the volume down and power buttons simultaneously for a few second.
• Pull down the notification panel from top of screen and visit the quick settings section and click on the Screenshot option.

Huawei and Honor phones

• Press the volume down and power buttons together at the same time for a few second.
• Pull down the Notification panel from the top of the screen, go to the Shortcuts section, and tap the Screenshot option.

Lenovo

• Press the volume down and power buttons simultaneously for a few second.
• Pull down the Notification panel from the top of the screen, go to the Shortcuts section, and tap the Screenshot option.

LG phones

• Press and hold the volume down and power buttons together for a few second.
• Pull down the Notification panel from the top and click on the Capture+

HTC phones

The different models of HTC phones offer a different way to take a screenshot. Look at the below methods and find out which method supports your phone.

• HTC U12+: Long press the power button until your smartphone vibrates, and then tap on the virtual home button, which appears on the navigation bar while pressing the power button.
• HTC U series: Press and hold the volume down and power buttons together for a few second.
• HTC 10: Press and hold the volume-down and power buttons or press and hold home and power buttons simultaneously for a few second.
• All other HTC phones: Press and hold the volume down and power buttons simultaneously for a few second.

OnePlus phones

• OnePlus 5, 5T, and 6: Swipe down your three fingers on the screen which you want to take as a screenshot.
• Other OnePlus phones: Press and hold the volume down and power buttons simultaneously for a few second.

ZTE phones

• Press and hold the volume down and power buttons simultaneously for a few second.

Samsung phones

As discussed above, some devices have given their own difference and added another way to take a screenshot, including the default also. One such device is the Samsung phone, which added three extra options to take a screenshot on Galaxy series such as Samsung Galaxy S20 or Samsung Galaxy Note 20. Suppose you are using any of such Samsung phones (Galaxy 20, Galaxy Note 20, or any other) that has pre-installed Bixby digital assistant. If you correctly configured this feature in your phone, you can use your voice command to take a screenshot. You need to go to the screen which you want to capture and say, "Hey Bixby." When Bixby's assistant starts working after listening to the "Hey Bixby" command, then give a command "take a screenshot." The device will take a screenshot and save it in your Gallery app.

If you don't have a Samsung smartphone that offers Bixby digital assistant, then you can also use different methods the take screenshot based on device features:

Swipe to capture

Some Samsung phones let you take a screenshot via a Palm swipe gesture. To turn ON this feature and take a screenshot, go to Settings, click on Advanced Features, and visit Motions and gestures and toggle ON the Palm Swipe To Capture. To take a screenshot, put your hand vertically on the left or right edge of the device screen and swipe on display.

Smart Selection tool

The Smart Selection tool is another way to take a screenshot on a Samsung phone. It will let you capture some particular parts of your screen, record the screen, or even create short GIFs from videos. To enable this feature go to device Settings > Display > Edge Screen and then Edge Panels. Turn ON these features if it isn't done already. Now, you can take a screenshot by sliding out your Edge panels and selecting the Smart Capture panel.

Using S-Pen for Galaxy Note phones

Using S-Pen, you can take screenshots on Samsung Galaxy Note phones. Just pull out the S-Pen styles, use the Air Command menu, and select screen write to take a screenshot. As you take a screenshot, a captured screen usually immediately gets opened to edit. Don't forget to save the edited screenshot.

• Samsung Galaxy S8 and later: Press and hold the volume down and power buttons simultaneously for a few second.
• Samsung Galaxy S7 and earlier: Press and hold home and power buttons simultaneously for a few second.

Motorola phones

Taking a screenshot on Motorola phones is simple and straightforward. It doesn't provide much more options to take a screenshot. You can use a standard method to take a screenshot by pressing and holding the volume down and power buttons together for a few seconds.

Google Assistant

Voice command is another simple way to take a screenshot on your device. On supported smartphones, you can ask Google Assistant to take a screenshot of the current screen on your device. Say "OK Google, take a screenshot," and the rest of the job is done by the enabled Google Assistant feature. However, if you want to take the Google Assistant screen itself, you have to use device hardware buttons.

Taking screenshots based on the Android version

Android 11

• Press and hold the power and volume-down button together for a few second.
• Another way to take a screenshot is by using the multitasking pane. It shows all your currently used apps to reveal the Screenshot button. Press the Screenshot button to capture a screenshot of your visible screen.
• Taking a screenshot using any of the above methods shows the thumbnail of the screenshot at the lower-left corner. Tap on the screenshot to edit it or share, or even delete it if required.

Android 10

• Press and hold the device's power button, and it will pop up a screen on the right side of the device screen. This small screen shows the option to power off, restart, screenshot, and call an emergency number. Clicking on the screenshot option will capture the current screen.
• Press and hold the power and volume-down button for a couple of seconds.

Take a scrolling screenshot on an Android phone

Mostly and generally, people capture a screenshot that appears on the screen of an Android phone. People never capture the entire page in one screenshot because the page doesn't fit into the phone's screen because the feature of capturing scrolling screenshots is not available on phones running on Android 10 or below OS version.

You can also take a scrolling screenshot on supported Android 11 or higher version devices. A scrolling screenshot captures the screenshot of the complete page, which you mainly see by scrolling the screen.

To capture a scrolling screenshot, first, you need to take a regular screenshot on your device. Then on Android 11, you will see an up-and-down arrow icon over the screenshot; tap on it. It starts selecting the screen from top to bottom. Now, select the portion of the screenshot and tap the right-tick mark icon to save it.

When you take a regular screenshot on an Android 12 or higher version device, a floating toolbar screen with various options appears. Tap on the "Capture more" option. A new special window appears on the screen to preview and select the content you want to capture. Move the margins up and down, left and right, to select the scrolling screen portion. Finally, save the selected portion as a screenshot.

Take a screenshot on an Android phone using a third-party app: ScreenMaster

Other than the built-in feature of a phone to take a screenshot on an Android phone, you can also use a third-party app. There have tons of Android apps available on Play Store that capture your screenshot. One such popular app is Screen Master. Screen Master is a free tool to capture screenshots with photos and markup tools. You can capture screenshots of your Android device by clicking on the floating button. The screenshot you will get is high-quality in PNG format. Using this app, you can also capture full-page screenshots.

Download the ScreenMaster app on your device.

Find, share & edit your screenshot.

Suppose you don't have a Photo app pre-installed on your Android device (if using an older version). You can see your screenshot, go to the phone's Gallery app tab for Album view and then Screenshots section.

On the other hand, if you have the Google Photo app installed on your device, then follows the below steps:

1. Launch the Photos app on your phone.
2. Please tap on the Albums (in some devices, it is Library) section and then go to Screenshots. At this section, you will see all your taken screenshots.
   • To share your screenshot image, click on that specific image or select your other taken screenshot and then tap the Share
   • To edit your screenshot image, tap on your screenshot image and click on the Edit

How to record your phone screen

1. Pull down the screen from the top (notification panel) of the phone.
2. Tap the Screen record option.
   • If this option is not present there, click on the Edit option and drag Screen record to your Quick Settings.
3. Find the clip you want to record and then click to Start. The recording starts after a few movements.
4. To stop the device's screen recording, pull down the screen from the top of the display and tap on the Screen recorder notification.

Find screen recordings

1. Launch the phone's Photos apps
2. Tap Library and then Movies.