How to directly start video camera on Galaxy phones running Android Pie

Tips & Tricks

On Galaxy devices running Android Pie, the camera has separate photo and video modes, so starting video recording requires an additional step after opening the camera app. This is a change not everyone has been able to adjust to, and Samsung has shown no inclination to revert back to the pre-Android Pie camera UI in which the video recording button was always visible and had no dedicated mode for it.

However, there is a way you can always directly go into the camera's video recording mode: You can simply create a shortcut to the camera's video mode on your home screen. This is possible thanks to Android's App Shortcuts feature. The App Shortcuts feature has been part of Android since Android 7.1 Nougat and gives you shortcuts to directly launch various functionality from within an app by long-pressing the app's icon on the home screen or in the app drawer. These shortcuts can also be placed on the home screen for one-click access.

On Samsung phones running Android Pie with the new One UI interface, App Shortcuts allow you to directly open the camera app in photo or video recording mode. And it's the latter shortcut that you can place on your home screen so you don't have to waste precious seconds in first opening the camera app and then switching to video mode every time you want to record a video.

How do I quickly start camera in video recording mode?

It's simple. Long press the camera app's icon on the homescreen or in the app drawer until a pop-up menu with Photo and Video options shows up, then tap and hold the Video option and drag it to an empty part of the home screen to place the shortcut. You can then use this shortcut to directly jump to the video recording mode in the camera app.

Check out the GIF animation below for a visual guide on how you can create a shortcut to the video camera. And don't forget to check out more tips and tricks so you can get the most out of your Galaxy smartphone or tablet.

Abhijeet Mishra - Editor-in-Chief

[email protected]

First Samsung device: SGH-D500

Abhijeet's writing career started with guides for custom firmware for Samsung devices (including the original Galaxy S), and he moved to SamMobile in mid-2013 and worked up the ranks to Editor-in-chief.

Tips & Tricks Android 9 Android Pie One UI

How to directly start video camera on Galaxy phones running Android Pie

How do I quickly start camera in video recording mode?

Abhijeet Mishra - Editor-in-Chief

[email protected]

First Samsung device: SGH-D500

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