“I found an excellent YouTube video I’d like to save on my Android phone. However, I can’t figure out how to do it. How do you record a YouTube video on your phone?” That’s a really good question. You have multiple options for recording YouTube videos on your Android or iOS phone.
You can use a built-in screen recording tool or a third-party app – the choice is yours. Today, we’ll take you through all these methods so you can weigh your options and learn how to record YouTube videos on your phone on the go.
In this article
How to Record a YouTube Video on Your Phone With a Built-in Tool
Android and iPhone devices have a built-in screen recording tool you can rely on to capture YouTube videos and save them on your phone. Though a built-in screen recorder makes recording any video you play on your phone easy, it’s typically hidden behind phone settings or keyboard shortcuts.
We’ll show you how to record a YouTube video on your Android or iPhone device using a built-in mobile screen recorder.
Android
Step 1: Go to YouTube and open the video you wish to capture on your phone;
Step 2: Swipe down from the top of your screen and tap Screen Recorder;
Step 3: Tap the Start button and select the Sound settings to capture a YouTube video with media audio;
Step 4: Tap Start Recording and then play the YouTube video after the countdown
Step 5: Tap the red Stop button to stop recording and access your video.
iPhone
Use your iPhone’s built-in video capture tool to create mobile recordings of YouTube content:
Step 1: Navigate to Settings > Control Center > Screen Recording;
Step 2: Open YouTube and find the video you wish to capture;
Step 3: Swipe down from the top of your screen to access Control Center > Screen Recording;
Step 4: Tap the Screen Recording button and play the YouTube video;
Step 5: Tap the same button again to save the video and access it in your iPhone Photos app.
How to Record a YouTube Video on Your Phone With Third-Party Apps
Here’s our selection of the best third-party apps for recording YouTube Videos on Android and iPhone devices.
Android
AZ Screen Recorder is one of the best third-party apps for recording YouTube videos on Android devices. The app offers various video recording features, including customizable frame rates, bitrates, video resolutions, and more.
More importantly, the app successfully captures media audio with your video, lets you add multiple video effects, and offers a decent range of video editing options to polish your recorded videos.
Here’s how to use AZ Screen Recorder to capture a YouTube video:
Step 1: Go to the Google Play Store and download and install AZ Screen Recorder;
Step 2: Open YouTube and find the video you want to record;
Step 3: Open the AZ Screen Recorder app and tap the red Camera icon;
Step 4: Switch back to the YouTube video to start recording;
Step 5: Tap the red button again to stop recording;
Step 6: Find your YouTube screen recording on your phone’s Gallery app.
iPhone
Documents 5 is an excellent free third-party app you can rely on to save YouTube videos on your iPhone. The app makes it easy to record videos from YouTube, save them on your phone, and add them to the camera roll so you can access your recordings with a few taps.
Here’s how to use Documents 5 to capture YouTube videos on your iPhone:
Step 1: Navigate to the App Store on your iPhone;
Step 2: Find Documents 5 and install it on your phone;
Step 3: Launch the app’s browser mode;
Step 4: Navigate the browser to the savefrom.net YouTube video downloader;
Step 5: Copy and paste the YouTube link to the video you want to record on your iPhone;
Step 6: Tap Download to save the video in the Photos app on your device.
How to Record High-Quality YouTube Videos on Your Phone
Here are a few valuable guidelines to take you through the process of recording top-quality YouTube videos for platforms like YouTube. These practices can help you elevate the quality of your recordings and make them perfect for streaming platforms like YouTube and Vimeo.
Pay attention to the following practices:
- Capture horizontal videos – vertical videos are more appropriate for platforms like Instagram and Facebook. If you plan to record a video for YouTube, capture the recording in a horizontal orientation to fill up the whole frame.
Aside from being a more suitable format for platforms like YouTube, a horizontal video is easily editable, allowing you to make the final recordings in multiple formats, like vertical and square.
- Use a tripod – a tripod is perfect for an extended, steady shoot, ensuring the subject stays in the frame. It also helps you eliminate shaky video.
- Check your settings – access your camera settings to finetune frames per second, pixels, formats, resolution, etc.
- Avoid using zoom – while it’s ok to use the zoom here and there, overdoing it will result in blurry and pixelated videos.
- Keep the lens clean – wipe the lens clean before you start recording to ensure there are no undesired artifacts in your recordings.
Tips for Editing Recorded YouTube Videos
Follow these tips to get ahead of YouTube video editing and make things easier and more convenient for you:
- Select a user-friendly video editing tool – find a video editor that best works for you. It should be a tool with a user-friendly interface, simple navigation, and transparent editing features to help you streamline the editing process.
- Edit your videos on a powerful PC – use a fast, powerful PC with an SSD to ensure your editing efforts go as smoothly as possible. The more powerful your PC, the faster your loading, rendering, and exporting time. Ensure your computer has enough CPU, GPU, and RAM resources for your video editing needs.
- Learn to use keyboard shortcuts – you can significantly expedite and simplify the editing process using keyboard shortcuts for various repetitive functions, such as delete, undo, redo, etc.
- Add some effects to your videos – start by adding top music to your YouTube video, be it a soundtrack in between shots or background music. You can also use a combination of motion graphics, titles, and text to make your videos more engaging.
- Color-correct your videos – color plays a vital role in setting the mood of your YouTube recording. Experiment with different color schemes to find the one that goes well with your video content to highlight specific scenes and make your videos stand out.
- Back up your files – create multiple copies of your YouTube videos to avoid file loss. If something goes wrong, you can use a backup to start over.
Should You Record YouTube Videos on a Phone or Computer?
Well, that depends on your specific recording needs. Both platforms can offer multiple convenient ways to capture YouTube videos. Desktop and mobile devices have built-in screen recording tools to record videos from home or on the go. So, it all comes down to your personal preference.
In our honest opinion, using a PC to record videos for YouTube gives you slightly more convenience and makes editing much easier. If you prefer recording videos on your PC but don’t want to install any third-party software, opt for Wondershare DemoAir Screen Recorder.
DemoAir is a YouTube screen recorder for Chrome that makes it easy to capture anything on your screen, including your webcam and browser tab, along with microphone and system audio.
The screen recorder captures YouTube videos in full HD resolution and offers basic video editing options, such as trimming and annotations.
With DemoAir, you can record YouTube videos online in a few easy steps:
Step 1: Visit the Wondershare DemoAir website and click Add to Chrome;
Step 2: Go to YouTube and find the video you want to record;
Step 3: Pause the playback and go to ;
Step 4: Select the Current Tab option and enable audio in the Recording Settings section;
Step 5: Play the YouTube video and click Start Recording to capture the recording.
- Record customized screens with audio and edit them in different tracks.
- Capture gaming videos, tutorials, and presentations and then edit them in one tool.
- Built-in unlimited editing templates, special effects, and other sources.
- Supported export to MP4, MOV, MKV, GIF, and other formats.
Conclusion
The methods mentioned here can help you capture YouTube videos on your Android or iPhone device. We’ve led you through the steps you need to take to record YouTube videos using built-in tools and third-party apps for iPhone and Android phones.
In addition, we gave you an alternative solution like Wondershare DemoAir to help you capture YouTube recordings online on your Mac or Windows computer. Each solution can help you meet your recording needs. Recording YouTube on mobile devices is ideal for people who prefer doing things on the go.
Use a built-in screen recorder for Android or iPhone if you wish to capture simple videos for social media and streaming platforms. On the other hand, third-party video recording apps are more suitable for creating professional, multi-purpose video content.