Screen recording on your Samsung Galaxy S26 is a powerful tool built right into One UI 8.5. It's perfect for capturing gameplay, creating how-to guides, or saving a memorable video call. The process is straightforward, but there are a few handy features you might not know about.
Start a Recording from Quick Settings
To begin, swipe down from the top of your screen twice to open the full Quick Settings panel. Look for the Screen recorder tile, which looks like a circle with a dot inside. If you don't see it, tap the pencil icon or the + button to edit your panel and add it from the list of available tiles.
Tap the Screen recorder tile once. A menu will pop up from the bottom of your screen, letting you choose your audio source before you even start. This is where you set up what sound gets captured.
Pick Your Audio Source
You have three main choices here. Selecting No sound will create a silent video, which is useful for recording visual steps. The Media sounds option captures all audio coming from your phone, like game soundtracks or video audio.
For commentary or narration, choose Media sounds and mic. This records both the phone's audio and your voice through the microphone. After making your selection, tap Start recording. You'll get a three-second countdown to navigate to the app or screen you want to capture.
Use the Floating Toolbar During Recording
Once the recording is live, a small, semi-transparent toolbar will appear on your screen. It has buttons to pause, stop, or turn your selfie camera on and off. You'll also see a timer so you can keep track of the recording length.
If the toolbar is blocking something important, you can drag it to any edge of the screen to reposition it. You can even drag it slightly off-screen to minimize its presence while you keep recording.
Annotate Your Screen in Real Time
A great feature for tutorials is the ability to draw on the screen. Tap the pen icon on the floating toolbar. This brings up a selection of pen colors and sizes. You can then draw arrows, circle items, or write notes directly over your live screen capture.
Your annotations appear in the final video. To stop drawing, just tap the pen icon again to deactivate it. I find this incredibly useful for pointing out specific buttons or menu items in a guide.
Stop and Save Your Video
To finish, tap the stop button (the square icon) on the floating toolbar. Alternatively, you can swipe down your notification panel and tap the "Touch to stop" notification. The recording will process for a moment and then save automatically to your Gallery app.
You'll find it in a dedicated Screen recordings album within the Gallery. The video file is saved in a standard MP4 format, making it easy to share or edit.
Trim and Edit Your Recording
Open the Gallery app and navigate to your recording. Tap on the video to play it, then tap the Edit button (it looks like a pencil). Samsung's video editor lets you trim the start and end points, which is the most common edit for removing fumbling at the beginning or end.
You can also adjust the playback speed, add background music from your library, or apply color filters. When you're done editing, tap Save copy to preserve the original file.
Configure the Recorder Settings
For more control, dive into the settings menu. Go to Settings > Advanced features > Screenshots and screen recorder. Here, you can change the video quality. The S26 can record in up to 1080p resolution by default, but you can lower it to 720p for smaller file sizes.
You can also toggle Show touches on or off. When enabled, a white circle appears wherever you tap the screen, which is excellent for clear tutorial videos. Since One UI 8.5 is brand new, I'd check this menu occasionally for new options added in future software updates.
Understand the Recording Limitations
Due to copyright protection, you cannot record video from most subscription streaming apps like Netflix, Disney+, or Max. The recorder will capture the audio, but the video will appear as a black screen. This is a standard DRM restriction.
Similarly, secure apps involving banking or digital payments will often block screen recording for safety. For most other activities, browsing the web, using social media, playing games, or recording your own content, the screen recorder will work perfectly.
