The Fastest Way to Start Recording Video on Your Smartphone
You never know when you will need to record something on your phone. Maybe arat on the subway is bringing home its piece for lunch ; perhaps the callingpedestrian is going to talk about someone’s life situation . In any case, if a viral moment unfolds in front of you, there is nothing to waste – you need to start filming.
We all know how to record video on our smartphones: open the Camera app, switch to video mode, press the red record button and continue. You may even know how to ensure the best possible video recording quality . But when the moment is important, you don’t want to fiddle with buttons or menus, which is why both iPhone and Android have the ability to instantly record video from Photo mode without having to go into Video mode first.
Apple has an official name for this feature – QuickTake. This makes this feature available on iPhone XS and newer. However, it is unclear which Android phones support this feature and which do not; for context, I’m using it on a Pixel 4 with the latest Android 12 beta.
How to Quickly Record Video from Photo Mode on iPhone and Android
All you have to do is open the Camera app, then press and hold the shutter button or hold down one of the volume buttons. When you do that, the shutter button will turn into a red record button and your phone will start capturing videos rather than taking pictures.
You have several options from here. Without lifting your finger from the screen, you can swipe up to zoom in and slide down to zoom out. Other apps like Snapchat also let you zoom in in the same way. If you don’t want to hold the record button all the time, you can swipe over the lock icon on the screen; on Android, you’ll find this icon to the left of the record button, and on iOS, you’ll find it on the right.
Just know that none of these options work if you are using the volume button on the iPhone. To stop recording, you can simply remove your finger from the shutter button or volume rocker.
Fast recording doesn’t produce better quality videos
The only caveat is that you won’t be able to record videos in the phone’s full resolution. On the iPhone, QuickTake was used to record 1080p video at 30fps, but it looks like Apple has bumped that resolution to 1440p. Android, on the other hand, seems to record 768p video, which is far from the maximum 4K quality. As such, you’ll want to use this feature when you need to record video quickly , rather than when you have the opportunity to take your time.
Alternative methods for faster video recording
You don’t have to just rely on your phone’s version of QuickTake to watch videos faster. Alternatively, you can press and hold the camera icon on the home screen of your phone, and then select Take Video (Android) or Record Video (iPhone). This will launch video mode, not photo mode in your camera app, so you can start shooting right away.
If you are using iOS, you can also adjust your settings so that the last used camera mode is displayed the next time you launch the app. If you know you used video mode the last time you used your camera, it will stick to video mode when you open the app again. You can read more about this setup in our complete guide here .
What’s wrong with iPhone burst mode?
Holding down the shutter button is used to enable Continuous Shooting on iOS, which shoots a series of photos quickly in sequence. You can still use burst mode, but it’s really hidden. The first time you press the shutter icon, slide your finger to the left. You will enter burst mode and your iPhone will start taking photos one by one.
You can also assign a volume up button for burst mode; Go to Settings> Camera , then make sure the toggle next to Use volume up for burst is turned on.