How to Record Your Android Screen (With Audio) — No App Needed

Android has had a built-in screen recorder since Android 11. No third-party app needed — it records your screen, touch inputs, and optionally your microphone or device audio. Here's exactly where to find it and how to use it properly.

Finding the Screen Recorder

The screen recorder lives in your Quick Settings panel — the tiles you see when you swipe down twice from the top.

Swipe down twice from the top of your screen
Tap the pencil/edit icon to edit your Quick Settings tiles
Find "Screen Recorder" in the list and drag it to your active tiles
Tap "Done" or the back button

Screen Recorder now appears in your Quick Settings. You only need to do this once.

Can't find it? On Samsung devices it may be called "Screen recorder." On some phones running Android 10, it may not exist — in that case, search your phone maker's app store for their official screen recorder app.

Recording Your Screen

Once the tile is in place:

Swipe down twice and tap the Screen Recorder tile
A settings popup appears — choose your audio source (more on this below)
Tap "Start" — there's a 3-second countdown before recording begins
A red dot or bar appears at the top of the screen while recording
To stop: swipe down and tap the red notification, or tap the floating stop button

The video saves automatically to your Gallery or Photos app in a "Screen recordings" folder.

Audio Options Explained

Option	Records	Best for
No audio	Nothing	Demonstrations with on-screen text
Device audio	Sound from apps	Recording games, music, videos
Microphone	Your voice only	Tutorials, explanations
Device audio + Mic	Both	Full commentary with app sounds

Note on device audio recording: Due to Android copyright protections, some streaming apps (Netflix, Spotify) block device audio recording. The screen may appear black during recording of these apps.

Recording Settings Worth Knowing

Before starting, check these settings in the screen recorder options:

Resolution: Default is usually 1080p. Drop to 720p for smaller file sizes if you're sharing the recording
Show touches: Displays a visual circle where you tap — useful for tutorials
Front camera overlay: Shows a small window with your face while recording — good for reaction or commentary videos

Editing Your Recording

Once saved, open the video in Google Photos → Edit → Trim to cut out the beginning countdown and any extra footage at the end. For more advanced editing, CapCut (free) lets you add captions, cut sections, and export at any quality level.

File Location and Sharing

Screen recordings save as MP4 files to: Internal Storage → Movies → Screen Recordings

You can find them in Google Photos under "Screen recordings" album, or in Files by Google → Videos.