You may want to record a video with the screen off sometimes. Examples where you may need to record discreetly include security, document misconduct, or capture footage while biking. But the native Camera app on your Android phone doesn’t allow you to record videos with the screen off. Fortunately, many third-party apps can fill this gap.
However, most of these apps lock essential features like unlimited recording or high-quality video behind a premium subscription or are filled with way too many ads. After testing several background video recording apps, I found some options for recording video with the screen off.
1. FadCam
FadCam is an open-source app. Since background recording requires several permissions, it’s safer to use a service that is transparent and open. Plus, it’s completely free with no premium subscriptions or ads. However, as a FOSS (Free and Open Source Software) app, it’s not available on the Play Store and needs to be sideloaded from GitHub. Here’s how to install and use it for background recording:
- Download and install the latest stable FadCam APK file from GitHub. Ensure you have enabled installing apps from 3rd-party sites/sources on your phone.
- Once the app is installed, open it and grant the required permissions to use the camera, microphone, and run in the background.
- On the home page, check available storage space and how long you can record.
- Move to the Settings tab at the bottom to customize which camera to use, video quality, framerate, watermark, etc.
- On the home page, tap Start to begin recording. You can close the app or even turn the screen off now.
- To stop recording, open the app and click on the Stop button.
- You can view all recordings in the Records tab. Recordings are not saved to the Gallery by default. If you want to save a video, tap the three-dot menu and select Save to Gallery. This also lets you keep the recordings private within the app.
Note: Do not remove FadCam from the recent apps list while recording. Doing so will stop the app from running in the background and halt recording. However, any video recorded up to that point will still be saved. Unlike many background video recording apps, FadCam does not come with an app lock feature or its own password protection.
2. Background Video Recorder App
If you want to use a Play Store app, try the Background Video Recorder app (previously known as Easy Video Recorder). While it does have ads, they are far less intrusive than many others, with only occasional full-page ads instead of pop-ups throughout the UI. The feature list includes cloud sync, app lock, ignoring battery optimization, zoom control, video quality adjustments, and audio source selection. It even offers facial detection, which triggers video recording when a face is detected. Overall, this is the most feature-rich app I’ve tested.
- Install the Background Video Recorder app.
- Open the app and grant permissions for camera and microphone use, and to run over other apps.
- On the Plus tab, you can access Settings, a video editor, and the option to schedule a video recording.
- On the Record tab, start and stop recording, and select between the front and rear cameras.
- All camera settings and features like app lock, are available under Settings.
The best part is that it continues recording even if removed from the recent apps list. You can open the app later and stop the recording; everything will be captured until you do. However, this app is not open-source and includes ads. You can remove all ads with a one-time subscription of $3.99.
