Tech for Luddites

If you ever need to record your Android phone or tablet’s screen, I highly recommend the AZ Screen Recorder app. The free version comes with lots of features and you can purchase an upgrade to unlock some additional ones, it’s super easy to use and, most of all, it just works. Your device must be running Android 5 or higher. You can use it with an Amazon Fire Tablet as well by using one of the methods in this T4L post to add Google Play apps to your Fire.

When you open AZ Screen Recorder, it adds a bubble or bar to your screen with several buttons, including Record. Just click that to immediately start recording whatever’s happening on your screen (including the notification bar). The options also appear on your Notifications screen.

The free version has no time limit or watermark, doesn’t include ads, and doesn’t require you to root your phone. You can record up to 1920 x 1080 resolution, if your device supports that. There are also lots of settings that you can customize for your own needs.

The upgraded version, which is an in-app purchase, offers additional useful features including using your phone’s front-facing camera to record yourself as an overlay on the main video, a countdown timer to start recording, and tools for drawing on and trimming the video.

I had actually installed the app a while back but didn’t do much with it except a couple of brief tests. But yesterday I used it to create a how-to video for this post on getting started with Pokémon GO. The unedited original footage was 13 minutes long and I didn’t have a single problem with it. Check it out!

In case you’re wondering, I edit these videos using Camtasia 9 software, which I also use to record my computer screen. If you ever want to try that out, it has a 30-day free trial period.

NOTE: I looked into similar apps for iOS, but I found this article that says Apple prohibits screen recording on iPhones and iPads, so there are no easy options. Here are a couple of articles with instructions for how to record your iOS device screen:

Record Your iPad or iPhone’s Screen (No Jailbreak or Computer Required) (Gadget Hacks)

How to Capture and Record an iPhone or iPad Screen Video? (AppTamin)

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