Tech

How to record in Snapchat without keeping your finger on the screen

Kaylee Fagan
Updated
2018-04-17T23:06:00Z
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One of the most iconic restrictions of Snapchat is that the app makes you hold your finger on the screen to record.

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Just try to record a video in Snapchat without keeping your finger held down. It's impossible.

Impossible, that is, unless you know this surprisingly simple workaround on the iPhone.

This is an update to a story by Alex Heath. It originally ran on March 26th, 2016.

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Open the Settings app and go to General.

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Then go to Accessibility. Tap on Assistive Touch.

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Turn on AssistiveTouch.

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A little gray circle should pop up. You can drag it all over the screen, and press it to bring up a gray menu.

Snapchat hands free
Kaylee Fagan

(Pro Tip: The button won't show up in screenshots.)

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Then, you'll want to scroll down and select "Create New Gesture."

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Press and hold with one finger in the center of the screen to let it record your touch. The blue bar at the bottom will fill up once the touch has been recorded.

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Save the gesture, and give it a name.

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Now open Snapchat and tap the little gray dot on your screen.

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Kaylee Fagan
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Then tap Custom.

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Then tap on the gesture you just saved.

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Now you should see another little gray circle, with a dot in the middle. Drag it over Snapchat's record button and let go. After about a second-long delay, Snapchat will record a video!

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Note: because you can only set gestures to be a max of 8 seconds long, you won't get Snapchat's full 10 second video length with this workaround.

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Snapchat will keep recording and your hands will be free to do whatever they please!

via GIPHY

 

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If you'd rather not have that little gray dot on your screen all the time, you can quickly turn it on and off from the Settings app.

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