Last updated: 2026-01-15

For most people in the U.S., the simplest way to record your Android screen with internal audio is to use your phone’s built‑in screen recorder or a trusted recorder app that supports internal sound on Android 10+. If you want presenter‑led recordings you can reuse, brand, and share everywhere, a practical path is to mirror your Android to a laptop with scrcpy, then record and edit through StreamYard.

Summary

• Android 10+ lets apps capture internal audio, but each app and phone maker controls whether that audio is actually available.
• Many modern Android phones (and a few third‑party apps) can record screen plus system sound without root, though behavior varies by device.
• For polished, presenter‑led videos, a reliable workflow is: mirror Android to desktop with scrcpy, capture screen + audio in a StreamYard studio, then export.
• Alternatives like OBS and Loom can help in edge cases, but StreamYard usually offers the smoothest path from raw capture to finished, shareable content for teams.

What actually counts as “internal audio” on Android?

When people say "internal audio," they usually mean the sounds from your apps or games (media, system sounds, music), not your microphone.

Starting with Android 10, Google added the AudioPlaybackCapture API so apps can capture audio from other apps, subject to permissions and app policies.(Android Developers) In simple terms: your phone can allow a screen recorder to grab system sound directly, without routing it back through the mic.

There are two big catches:

• App control: Each app can opt out of being recorded. If a video or music app blocks capture, you’ll only get silence or mic audio, no matter what recorder you use.(Android Developers)
• Device differences: Phone makers layer their own settings on top of Android. That’s why one phone might offer a neat "Media" or "Media and mic" toggle in the screen recorder, while another hides audio options entirely.(The Verge)

So the big idea: internal audio recording is allowed at the OS level, but not guaranteed for every app or every phone.

How do you record Android screen with internal audio without root?

If your goal is “hit record on phone, get screen + system sound,” start with what’s already built in.

Step 1: Check your phone’s native screen recorder

On most recent Android phones in the U.S.:

1. Open Quick Settings (swipe down twice from the top).
2. Look for Screen record or Screen recorder.
3. Tap it, then open audio options if available.
4. Choose something like Media or Media and mic if your phone offers those.
5. Start the recording, then open your app or game.

Some devices (Samsung, Google Pixel, and others) explicitly let you pick between “none,” “media,” or “media and mic” as the audio input for screen recordings.(The Verge) If you see these options, choose media for pure internal sound or media and mic if you’re narrating.

If your phone’s native recorder doesn’t expose internal audio options, you can:

• Try a reputable recorder app from the Play Store that explicitly supports internal sound on Android 10+ (for games, Mobizen’s help center is one example showing internal‑sound capture on Android 10+).(Mobizen Help)
• Check whether the app you’re trying to record is allowed to be captured (some video services disable it for DRM).

For quick clips or personal use, this “on‑device only” route is enough.

How do you record Android screen with internal audio using scrcpy?

If you want more control, better mic quality, or you’re planning to edit and repurpose the footage, mirroring your phone to a laptop is a strong move.

A common tool for this is scrcpy, a free, open‑source utility that mirrors your Android screen to a desktop and can forward audio on devices running Android 11+.(scrcpy docs) On Android 12 and newer, audio forwarding generally works “out of the box,” which makes it a good fit for creators with recent phones.(scrcpy docs)

Here’s the high‑level workflow:

1. Install scrcpy on your Windows, macOS, or Linux laptop.
2. Enable USB debugging on your Android phone and connect it via USB.
3. Launch scrcpy; your phone screen appears in a window on your computer, with device audio forwarded if your Android version supports it.
4. Now open a StreamYard studio in your browser.
5. Share the scrcpy window as a screen source; capture your mic separately in the studio.

At this point, you’re recording (or even streaming) a clean feed of your Android, plus your commentary, all within StreamYard’s studio environment.

Why use StreamYard instead of just a raw recorder?

On its own, a system recorder gives you a single, flat video. For walkthroughs, tutorials, or product demos, that can feel limiting.

When you bring your Android into a StreamYard studio, you get:

• Presenter‑visible layouts: You can arrange your face cam next to the phone screen, picture‑in‑picture, or full‑screen demo with your camera ready for cut‑ins.
• Independent audio control: It’s easy to keep Android system sound lower while your mic stays front and center.
• Local multi‑track recordings: On paid plans, you can capture your mic, guest mics, and overall program feed as separate files, which is ideal for post‑production tweaks.(StreamYard support)
• Branding built in: Overlays, logos, and lower‑thirds can be applied live so your raw recording already looks like a finished show.
• Landscape and portrait in one session: You can frame portrait app demos and landscape explainers in the same project, which matters if you’re publishing to both YouTube and TikTok.
• Multi‑participant demos: Bring in teammates or guests, share multiple screens (desktop + Android), and have everyone participate in the same recording.

Compared with desktop‑only tools like OBS, you skip heavy configuration and hardware tuning. OBS gives deep encoder control, but it assumes you’re willing to manage scenes, bitrates, and local storage yourself.(OBS system requirements) For many creators, the trade‑off isn’t worth the time.

Compared with async‑first tools like Loom, StreamYard is built around a studio model rather than one‑off clips. Loom’s free tier, for example, caps screen recordings at 5 minutes and only 25 videos per person before you need a paid plan, while paid plans are priced per user.(Loom pricing) At StreamYard, pricing is per workspace instead of per user, which can be more cost‑effective for teams who record together frequently.

How do you actually set up the StreamYard + Android workflow?

Here’s one practical example for a U.S. creator making a mobile‑app tutorial series:

1. Prepare your Android

   • Update to Android 11+ if possible.
   • Enable USB debugging.
   • Test that your app’s audio can be captured (no DRM blocks, sound plays correctly on the phone).

2. Set up scrcpy and your laptop

   • Install scrcpy and confirm that both video and audio from your phone are mirrored to your screen.(scrcpy docs)
   • Use wired headphones or a USB mic with your laptop for clean narration.

3. Create a StreamYard studio

   • Open StreamYard in a browser and enter a studio as the host.(StreamYard pricing)
   • Add your webcam and mic as inputs.
   • Use Share screen to capture the scrcpy window.

4. Record in one take (or more)

   • Start recording in StreamYard.
   • Walk through your app on the phone while talking through features.
   • Use brand overlays and banners to highlight key moments.

5. Export and repurpose

   • Download the program recording from StreamYard.
   • If you enabled multi‑track local recording, bring individual audio/video tracks into your editor for fine‑tuning.(StreamYard support)
   • Cut vertical clips for shorts, keep the full landscape walkthrough for YouTube or your course.

This entire flow runs in a browser and relies on the laptop you already use, which is often more reliable than pushing your phone to manage recording, audio routing, and storage on its own.

Why is my Android recording missing internal audio?

If you’ve tried everything and still only get silence or mic sound, it often comes down to one of three issues:

1. The app blocks capture. Apps can explicitly disable playback capture via their Android manifest, which tells the OS not to share their audio with recorders.(Android Developers) If that’s the case, you won’t get internal sound—only your microphone.
2. Your device’s implementation is limited. Some phone makers ship stripped‑down recorders, or hide toggles for media vs mic audio, so you might never see an option to include system sound.(Android 11 recorder overview)
3. Android version mismatch. Tools like scrcpy only forward audio from Android 11+ devices, and work most smoothly on Android 12+.(scrcpy docs) On older systems, you’ll be limited to mic‑based capture or specialized apps that mix system sound in other ways.

If internal audio is a must and your phone or apps fight you, consider this fallback: play the app sound out of your phone at a reasonable volume and record it with a good external mic into StreamYard. It’s not as clean as native capture, but with careful gain and a quiet room, it can still produce usable results for many educational videos.

What we recommend

• Use your phone’s built‑in recorder first; if you can select “media” or “media and mic,” that’s the fastest way to get internal audio.
• When you’re ready to create reusable tutorials or demos, mirror Android to a laptop with scrcpy and capture everything inside a StreamYard studio.
• Reach for OBS only if you specifically need advanced encoder and scene control and are comfortable with a deeper setup.
• Use Loom for quick, link‑style async clips; use StreamYard when you care about layout control, branding, multi‑track audio, and team‑friendly pricing.