Taking a screenshot on Samsung Galaxy S and other Samsung Android devices

Samsung Galaxy S comes with a internal screenshot capturing feature similar to iPhone. This is not the same as the infamous stock Android screenshot facility which forces you to turn on USB debugging, downloading Android SDK, etc. Captured screenshots can be found from Gallery in their own category ScreenCapture.

To take a screenshot

  • Hold Back touch key
  • Double press Home key

This feature is probably available on other Samsung Android devices, like Samsung Wildfire and Samsung Galaxy Tab.

\"\" Subscribe to RSS feed Follow me on Twitter Follow me on Facebook Follow me Google+

82 thoughts on “Taking a screenshot on Samsung Galaxy S and other Samsung Android devices

  1. Didn’t work for me, holding down the “back” key and the “power” key worked. Both on my tablet and phone, both running froyo 2.2

  2. None of these worked for me. I did it once not even meaning to which made me look into it. I have a Samsung Galaxy S/Captivate running 2.2

  3. 1) Try screenshotting in different applications. Application itself may capture keypresses and prevent screenshots.

    2) Your carrier may have disabled some of Galaxy S features. The feature definitely works on the international Galaxy S version.

  4. Samsung galaxy with froyo on us cellar

    Holding the back button and pressing the power button is what worked for me.

  5. Most certainly seems to work, Samsung Galaxy S 2.3 , what i need to do ,is to hold the back key and home key,then release them,screen is captured.

  6. this isn’t working bro?
    i have an at&t samsung galaxy s captivate? wth.

  7. I have a samsung galaxy s from telus and I took a screenshot by accident at one time and I have spent the last two hours trying this suggestion among others and none of them are working!! Please help… Getting frustrated!! … Tried back key and power key… Tried back and home key… Tried back key and double touch of home key… Tried everything….is there something that had to be turned on or off in the settings I order for these suggestions to work??

  8. I have samsung Galaxy Mini (GT-S5570). And this trick is working perfectly. Actualy a little bit change of timming in it. Just press the back key anh hold it. and with holding back key just press centre key. Just Done.

    Naresh

  9. Worked for me after a couple of attempts on Galaxy S running GingerBread. My method is to just touch the home button, then the back key and then depress the home button to capture the screenshot. Worked every time.

  10. Could not get the screen shot to work on the browser but worked on the home screen. Hold back key, then press power key

  11. I’ve just updated to 2.3.3 (Gingerbread) and it works for me – thanks!!

  12. Worked for me first time on my samsung s ..hold right key down and press middle key..screenshot goes into your files under screnshot capture

  13. Aniruddha said…

    “Worked for me after a couple of attempts on Galaxy S running GingerBread. My method is to just touch the home button, then the back key and then depress the home button to capture the screenshot. Worked every time.”

    What is the point of that? You said you have to hit the home button first. That means you will exit to the main menu…what good is that when you want shoot the screen you are currently viewing?

    I am also running the Galaxy S on Telus with Android 2.2 and none of the recommendations out there work. This is one of the drawbacks of Android, you get some many variations.

  14. Holding down the home key does not work for me. It launches the task manager.

  15. This is so frustrating. i’m running android 2.3.3 on my galaxy s. it seems that the trick for me is to hold the back key and press the home button. this works in some applications but not others as as soon as you press the back key in say the weather channel app, the app closes and i take a very useless capture of the desktop. wtf ?

  16. I have a galaxy s 2.2 everytime I press back than home it doesn’t work it goes straight to task manager

  17. I did it a couple times before without knowing how i did it. looked it up and most websites say “DOWNLOAD ALL THIS CRAP ONTO YOUR PHONE” thank you thank you thank you

  18. I have a galaxy captivate s and I have accidenly taken a screen shot before and can’t figure out how I did it. None of the ways are working for me. Help please!

  19. I have a samsung captivate S and I do not know how to screen shot :$ can you help me? plzzz

  20. Hi, thanks so much for the tip. Worked for me however i can’t seem to screen shot text messages. Has this worked for anyone else? So frustrating because every time i try, takes me back to the inbox and it screen shots THAT instead. Blah. Samsung galaxy s user.

  21. Some applications capture key presses in such a manner that taking screenshot is very very difficult. In this case try to go to a nested view so that pressing back key actually takes you to the view where you want to take the shot.

  22. None of these worked for me 🙁 I have the Samsung Galaxy from Sprint running on gingerbread

  23. I have a T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy S (Inception) and I can’t get the screen shot to work. I been told I can do it but can not figure it out. My lock key and power button are the same ones and my back button and home button are touch screen buttons. I have no idea how to get this figured out. Anyone know?? I don’t want to root my phone either … ugh 🙁

  24. This doesn’t work. Those ways doesn’t work for every phone. Is there any other way that you can do a screenshot without using an app?

  25. This will not work for samsung galaxy mezmorize i500 for u.s. Cellular

  26. Galaxy s II….press power and home buttons at the same time. Sprint.

  27. I have an AT&T Samsung Captivate with Froyo 2.2 and this isn’t working for me. I’ve managed to accidentally take two screenshots on my phone before but I don’t remember what I did. None of the other suggestions I saw in the other comments worked for me. Are there any other suggestions besides downloading an app?

  28. Mini Galaxy / Android 2.3.4 … Pressing Power and Home buttons at the same time takes a screenshot. Thank You TRY ALL THE BUTTONS.

  29. Galaxy W method is to press and hold home and press power button

  30. I have the att galaxy s 2 skyrocket and pressing the home key and then power key worked for me.

  31. once push back, it backs 🙂 and screen changes. is there any other way to take screenshot?

  32. I have T-mobile Galaxy S (inception) I just got it for Christmas so its kinda new. I have wanted to know how to do this ever since I got it and cant get it to work. I have tried all of these. Does anyone have the same one as me and it works? I would like to know if I am just wasting my time. Not sure if this helps figure out my

  33. I hit the power button twice while holding the home button

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *