Quick Links

Taking a screenshot is a handy feature as it allows you to share the content on your screen easily or just save it locally for future reference. There are several ways of taking a screenshot on an Android phone, with a few of them being unique to some devices. Similarly, there are different methods to capture screenshots on Samsung Galaxy phones, with some of them unique to OneUI software on these devices. The overall process, however, is fairly simple, and we're going to walk you through different ways of taking a screenshot on Samsung Galaxy phones in this post.

Samsung Galaxy Phones

How to take a screenshot using the physical buttons on your Samsung phone

Samsung Galaxy phones run on OneUI, which is a custom skin on top of Android. Therefore, the generic button combination that can be used to take a screenshot on all Android smartphones will work on a Samsung phone as well. Here's how to take a screenshot using the physical buttons on your phone:

  1. Press the Power button + Volume down button at the same time.
    Samsung Screenshot using Buttons
  2. As soon as you release the buttons, a screenshot will be captured.
  3. Samsung Galaxy phones give you a small preview of the screenshot at the bottom of your screen along with a toolbar as soon as the screenshot is captured to either share it, edit it to add annotations, or even take a scrolling screenshot if you have a long list. You can use this toolbar to make necessary changes or ignore it to save the screenshot to your gallery as it is.

How to take a screenshot using gestures on your Samsung phone

Samsung's OneUI skin comes with additional software features than the ones you get on phones with stock Android. This includes some nifty gestures, which you can also use to take screenshots on your Galaxy phones. Here's how you can do it:

  1. Go to Settings on your Samsung phone and scroll down till you find the Advanced Features option.
    Samsung Screenshots Gesture
  2. Select it to go to the next page, in which you locate an option called Motion and Gestures. Choose that to open the list of different gestures you can use on your device.
  3. Next, enable the Palm swipe to capture option.
  4. Now you will be able to take screenshots just by swiping the edge of your palm from one end of your screen to the other.

This gesture can be helpful for taking screenshots when your phone is sitting flat on a desk or, in those cases, when you don't necessarily find it very convenient to use the button combination. It also makes your job easier if you want to take multiple screenshots back-to-back.

How to take a screenshot using Bixby on your Samsung phone

If you're one of the few Samsung Galaxy phone users with Bixby Voice enabled, then you can use it to take a screenshot. It can be really handy when your hands aren't free because it's as simple as waking your assistant with the wake word and saying, "take a screenshot". Here's how you can do it:

  1. Assuming you've enabled Bixby Voice on your Galaxy phone, you can either long-press the Bixby button (if your phone has one) or simply say, "Hey Bixby" to activate it.
  2. After that, say, "take a screenshot," and Bixby will capture the contents of your screen.
    A screenshot showing the Bixby screen while taking a screenshot on a Galaxy Z Fold 4.

Alternatively, you can also use Google Assistant to take screenshots if you don't have the Bixby Voice feature enabled on your phone. The process remains the same, as you'll just wake up the Google Assistant instead of Bixby to give the command.

That's how easy it is to take screenshots on a Samsung Galaxy phone. You can try using all of these methods and settle on one that suits you the best. These steps will also work on Samsung's new foldable phones, but they also come with device-specific ways to help you capture screenshots. You can head over to our Galaxy Z Fold 4 screenshot guide to learn more about it. We also have a dedicated guide that will help you root your smartphone, including the Samsung Galaxy phones, so make sure to check that out if you're into advanced customizations.