How To Capture Screenshot with Google Now on Tap Feature

Grabbing a screenshot on your device is not quite complicated, you just have to press two buttons, power + volume down buttons in most Android handsets. Google by default has put this functionality on the Android operating system. Some companies like Samsung has changed it according to their need, as in most Samsung devices you have press power button and home button in order to take screen grabs. But now the Mountain View giant has introduced a new way to take screenshots on your Android smartphones. The procedure we are talking about is via Google Now on Tap feature, which is newly introduced by the company.

In my view taking screenshots with Google Now on Tap is much better option for users with device cases, as its awful lot annoying when you are not able to press the required buttons at the same time. And you end up either turning on silent mode or worse, switching off the device. Trust me, the probability of happening that is much higher if you’re using the casing on your smartphone.

Following are the steps that would guide you in enabling the Google Now on Tap and teach you how to take screen grabs using that feature. Before we dive in, let’s make sure you have the following requirements fulfilled.

Pre-requisite:

• Your device should be running on Android Operating System, particularly on Marshmallow 6.0 or above.
• The Google App version 5.7.13 or above should be installed on the device.

Instructions:

• Step 1: – Starting with turning on the Google Now on Tap feature if you’re running it for the first time. It’s quite easy to switch on this feature. Simply, press and hold on the home button on your Android device.
• Step 2: – Now you have to follow the set instructions shown on the display. You’ll notice some change in the display interface as it will provide more detail about the Now on Tap function.
• Step 3: – Next time invoking the Now on Tap won’t take much time as you’ve enabled it. Remember, you can invoke it from anywhere on the system. It’s just a matter of pressing and holding the Home button.
• Step 4: – On the bottom left-hand corner, there would be a new sharing icon appearing. You have to tap on that to capture the screenshot of what is showing on the display. Further, you can choose to share it directly via services like Bluetooth, or social apps installed on your device.

Note the Status bar that you see in the third screenshot is the part of Media Cover on the Google Play Store, but not the part of screenshot itself as you see on captures taken by pressing the volume down and home button together.

By default, Google is not saving this screenshot on the system storage. So, you have to select the option if you wish to do so. It is actually pretty interesting as you don’t have to save the screen grabs on the device every time you want to share it.

There’s one more important thing to notice is that the screenshots taken using the Google Now on Tap feature won’t include the status bar icons and navigation buttons in the image captured. Unlike what you see when you take screenshots using the volume down and power button.

This process did take little more time than your usual process of taking screenshots. But it’s quite worth it as the results speak for themselves; you don’t have to save every screenshot, nor you would have to go through the editing process to remove status bar from the top and on-screen navigation buttons from the bottom. Efficiency takes patience, and it’s quite true in this case.

Note: You need to be on the latest version of the Google Now on Tap if you want to enable and use this feature of taking a screenshot via Google Now on Tap.