Screen recording and then sharing on social media is not something that’s a preserve of just former Nairobi Governor Mike Sonko. It is something many of us do and when we do, we immediately realize how tasking it is to hide information we don’t want strangers on the internet to have access to before we post.
Personally, it’s something I encounter since I’ve made it a habit to share my screen with the masses. Like in this case.
So, now, what to do? Well, we’ve just had to endure the mobile editing bit of our video – thankfully, that’s a breeze these days if you have some basic skills thanks to apps like Byte Dance’s CapCut and the SoLoop app that used to come pre-installed on Oppo smartphones (I’ve had it on all recent Oppo smartphones I’ve used except my current one, the Reno8 T).
Going forward, things will even be easier as Google steps in and makes a timely intervention.
According to Android watcher Mishaal Rahman, exiting the active app one is recording will result in there being blank frames.
“f you leave the app you selected to record, then Android will continue screen recording but the content will be black. If you open the app again, the contents will once again be captured in the same recording,” Rahman tweeted a week ago.
Check his thread on Twitter:
Hands-on: I finally got this fully working, so here's a full demo of Android 14's new partial screen recording feature.
This feature lets you record a single app without any System UI elements or notifications appearing in the video!
(Resulting video in the follow-up reply.) pic.twitter.com/T7cCFJK13N
— Mishaal Rahman (@MishaalRahman) May 19, 2023
While one is recording the screen on an app, system notifications and other system UI elements don’t show up. So, no more worrying about the world being treated to late afternoon steamy chats with your significant other when you’re trying to be serious. Or random M-Pesa messages (do people still get those in this economy?) or, worse off, debt repayment reminders.
The new privacy features are part of the second beta of Android 14 and should be making their way to all Android device users when the new version of Android starts rolling out in a few months. Check everything we know about the upcoming version of our favourite mobile operating system here.
