How To Record the Screen on Your iPhone, Android phone, PC, or Mac!

For this weeks Appy Friday, we’re giving you a quick how-to guide on screen recording for Apple devices, Android devices, on Windows PC’s, and Mac’s too. Screen recording is so helpful when you’re trying to explain something to someone, and you don’t want to write it out in a lot of wordy text.

Recording the Screen on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod)

1. First, go to Settings then to the Control Center and click Customise Controls. Scroll down the page to find the Screen Recording option and tap the little green plus next to it.
2. Then open the Control Center.
3. In order to record sound with the screen recording, press with pressure on the white filled in circle and then tap Microphone Audio On.
4. Then tap the circle symbol again and wait for the 3-second countdown.
5. Finally, to stop the recording open the Control Center again and tap the red circle, or tap the red bar at the top of the screen and then tap stop.

Recording the screen on your Android device

1. Firstly, download the AZ Recorder app and tap on the icon once downloaded.
2. Once the app has opened you should then see some icons at the bottom of your screen. When you are ready to record in the bottom left corner there is a shutter icon, tap that. The overlay will disappear when you start recording, then when you are finished and want to stop recording, drag down the overlay and then you can either stop or pause your recording.
3. Also in this app, there are some editing tools. There is also a photo icon on the overlay, this option will let you cut and edit the video as well as crop the screen.

Recording the screen on your Windows PC

1. To screen record on the desktop open up the ‘Use Loom’ website.
2. Continue by either selecting to use your Google account to log in or your Slack account to log in. Then install the extension.
3. Once you have done this, there will be a small icon in the top right-hand corner on the toolbar on your browser. Then a pop-up box will appear in which there are a few options, the first being to record both the screen and through your camera, then there is just screen or just the camera. Once you have selected which you want to record press the start recording button.
4. Then to stop recording in the bottom left-hand corner there are some icons, the green tick will allow you to stop recording.
   

Recording the screen on your Apple Mac

1. To screen record on a Mac, open Quicktime. You can do this by holding command and space in order to bring up Spotlight search then begin typing QuickTime.
2. Next, right click on the QuickTime icon, and then choose New Screen Recording from the menu. Once you have pressed this a screen recording box will open on your screen.
3. Next, to the record button on the pop-up screen recording box there is a small white down arrow, press this to see more options like choosing if you want to record the audio also and other options like this.
4. When you are ready to record you can select whether you want to record part of your screen or all of it. If you only want to record part of the screen, click the record button and then a message will pop up telling you to drag the marque across the part you want to record, once you have done this click the record button again. If you wish to record the whole screen then just click the record button and then click anywhere on the screen to start recording.
5. To stop the recording right click on the QuickTime icon again and choose stop recording from the menu.
   

So, that was this weeks Appy Friday. I find screen recording so helpful when you’re trying to explain something technical, as it takes away so many of the complications of explaining how to do something. Let us know if you have any other apps that you use for screen recording that you find useful.

The New Windows 8.1 Launch Date Revealed

Microsoft has finally announced a date for their new 8.1 software to be launched…. in the US at least.

The United States can expect the new Windows 8.1 on October 17th of this year, which confirms a recent rumour that the release would be mid-month.

This update has been previously known as Windows Blue, but 8.1 will be available to all of the existing Windows 8 users for free. For those who aren’t an existing Windows 8 user, you will have to wait an extra day to buy it in a retail shop.

It has been a year since the Windows 8 software was released and now the software giants are back again, which might bring good news to many users. “Why?” you ask, because the Start button is making a return, even if it does take you straight to the Start screen instead of the Start menu.

The reason we know this is because Microsoft have released a preview version named quite simply, the Windows 8.1 Preview Release. Inventive isn’t it?

Windows 8.1 is not a whole new operating system and you shouldn’t expect to see the same jump from 7 to 8, but there are improvements, like the Start button for example. Microsoft has explained that this new software update will respond to a lot of customer feedback as well as adding new features and functionality. These will include advancement in the touch experience and the difference in mobile computing.

Another thing that we’re interested in is the apps and we can expect an improvement here too. Enhancement to the built-in apps like Mail and Xbox Music are likely as well as the introduction of new apps too, such as a new version of ‘Office’ and food and fitness apps which are always popular.

With this, the Windows Store is getting a new look, which is purposely designed to make it much easier for users to navigate to find new and interesting apps. The apps you do have will automatically install in the background too, making the whole experience effortless, which is always good news.

So, not too much longer for us to wait, although we will have to wait just a little longer than the US.

Windows Want You!

With Apple and Android leading the way in terms of apps, it was only a matter of time before Microsoft did something about where they currently lay in the market share table.

Android and iOS currently make up around two-thirds of the market and Windows have decided to change this statistic by offering app developers the chance to build them some apps. 

Windows are offering these developers $100 per app they create for them and their Windows 8 OS. These developers can submit up to 20 apps each which would mean they can earn themselves $2000. This does mean though that 10 will be made for the Windows Phone store and the other 10 can be submitted for the Windows 8 store. 

Although many people have slated this idea by saying it screams desperation, BlackBerry did the exact same thing by offering developers the opportunity to develop apps for their new OS 10.  They did this to ensure that they had enough apps ready for the launch, which apparently resulted in around 1000 apps being submitted to Blackberry World in a day. 

Windows are currently only managing a mere 4000 apps per month, so it is well worth them taking a shot at emulating what Blackberry did.  

So, although this may seem like a desperate idea, it is a short term solution which is pretty much guaranteed to improve the platform. There is a downside to this though; it could mean that they accept a lot of strictly average or below par apps in order to reach their required amount to bolster their share in the market. 

Apple and Android are sitting pretty at the top of the market share table, but Microsoft is definitely determined to become one of the big wigs when it comes to percentages.
If you are interested in developing an app for Microsoft you will need to be pretty sharp about it though, as they are only going to be open for the first 10,000 apps, or until the end of the offer period. The date for this is the 30th of June.