Tutorial to add over a dozen useful tweaks to Android screenshot capabilities & four methods for screenshotting snapshots

TUTORIAL:
o Tutorial to add over a dozen useful tweaks to Android screenshot
capabilities & four methods for screenshotting snapshots

Sans root, the efficient methods I've tested & documented this week enable:
1. Android hardware button (power button) screenshot activation
2. Android home button screenshot (bottom menu) activation
3. Android homescreen-folder-icon (shortcut) screenshot activation
4. Android Quick-launch icon (top pulldown menu) screenshot activation

*All using freeware sans any ads whatsoever, nor dependencies on GSF*!

Where the apps I've honed the solution to add over a dozen capabilities:
a. Instant (auto)save efficient snapshotting
b. Delayed snapshotting (with or without countdown timers)
c. Ability to (auto)save the screenshots to any desired location
d. Ability to (auto)save in a variety of file formats and qualities
(e.g., PNG, WEBP, or JPG at 70%, 90%, or 100%)
e. Ability to manually crop in real time
f. Ability to manually edit in real time
g. Ability to scroll to encapsulate long screens in your screenshots
h. Ability to manually share screenshots
i. Ability to (auto)select the area for the screenshots
j. Ability to hide the existence of the icon from the Android launcher
k. Ability to turn on or off specific screenshot notifications
l. Ability to replace the native hardware screenshot mechanism
m. Ability to broadcast a secret intent passphrase to other apps
(e.g., for other apps to screenshot such as Tasker or MacroDroid)

If you're interested in obtaining more than a dozen tweaks to improve
screenshot capabilities on Android, the purposefully helpful threads a
1. *How to add a delayed snapshot capability to the Android OS*
https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/comp.mobile.android/lBbHJdKgBaM
2. *How to add an efficient single-press instant-save to the Android OS*
https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/comp.mobile.android/Vj67Y3mjr50

Note: These methods were only tested on my $100 Moto G7 running Android 9.
(Your test results on other Android versions will help everyone.)

As always, if you can add more value, please improve with your experiences.
--
Only 2 kinds of people are on Usenet: Those adding value & those who can't.

On Fri, 13 Mar 2020 11:43:27 -0500, kelown wrote:

My Moto G5S+ XT1806 and my brother's Moto G7 Play XT1952-3 both allow
taking instant screenshots by simultaneously pressing your 3 middle
fingers to the screen. Works reliably and saves to
sdcard/pictures/screenshots directory.

Hi kelown,
I very much appreciate your purposefully helpful kind adult advice, where I
just tested the "three middle fingers" on my new Android Pie Moto G7.

It is a _nice_ feature that I did not know about!
o Thank you for suggesting that "three fingered" salute!

However ...

It still doesn't do anything that the longpress on power didn't do.
a. It pops up the screenshot GUI... and ... and ... and ... and ..and
b. And ... and ... and ... and ... and ... and ... and ...
c. Nothing happens no matter how _long_ I wait.

The point is that these two features are missing on _my_ Moto G7:
1. It doesn't do an instant save on my Moto G7,
2. Nor does it do a timed-delay snapshot on my Moto G7.

I think others claim it can do an instant save on their Android 9 phones.
o So maybe it's just a Moto G7 quirk that there's no instant save?

BTW, I suggest you try the Audio Screenshot Android app. It instantly
and reliably takes screenshots simply by shouting something into phone
that's louder than ambient noise.
http://bit.ly/2W9bjun
or
https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...iosc reenshot

Thank you kelown for that kind & purposefully helpful adult suggestion,
where I don't use Google Play but I looked for that app on the Aurora Store
where my default search filter is for GSF independent ad-free free apps.

I do appreciate that you're one of the few people who provide the link to
the Google App, which is what enabled me to find it easily, after changing
a few of the default switches in Aurora Store (Google Play isn't for me).

At first, the suggested app wasn't found on the Google Play store by
Aurora, so I loosened the filters and added the unique name which you
kindly provided (very few people do that - so I want to thank you for
saving me time).

Aurora finally found it under the category of "has ads, GSF dependent", and
where I installed version 1.01 and then pressed the "Activate audio
screenshot" slider, keeping the sound level at the 50dBm default, and the
image format at the PNG default, and changed the deactivation period to 1
minute (because it was snapping screenshots as I typed this!) and I raised
the sound power level to 75 decibels because it was still snapping
screenshots just based on my typing sounds (I type hard & fast).

My quick one-minute assessment?
o It's a nice app because it snaps a screenshot & saves it without
_any_ button presses whatsoever!
o It's a bit difficult to get it to not snap too many screenshots,
but I suspect over time I can hone the settings to prevent
spurious screenshots!

I did _not_ see any ads at first, but they sometimes creep up on us as they
did in my detailed assessment of SMS apps, where weeks later, the ads
became obnoxious, so time will tell how obnoxious the ads are as I strive
for ad free apps for the general purpose solutions.

In summary, I thank you for pitching in to add value to our tribal
knowledge on c.m.a, where we all learn more together than any one of us can
learn alone.
https://i.postimg.cc/CK8XgsHb/screenshot08.jpg

While I didn't see any delay options, for instant screenshots, this Audio
Screenshot by Awesome Apps is a good candidate to test for hands-free
instant screenshotting (if the ads don't become obnoxious over time):
o Audio Screenshot - capture screenshots using voice, by Awesome Apps!
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=audioscreenshot.awesomeapps.com.audiosc reenshot

Drat. As I was testing & documenting it, a darn full-page ad showed up.
https://i.postimg.cc/K8MJkvk2/screenshot09.jpg

Also, note, it puts the screenshots into its own personal directory:
/storage/emulated/0/Audio Screenshot/Screensot#.png

In short, if we can deal with the ads and if we can get a choke-hold on the
spurious screenshots, it could become a keeper, albeit a finicky one, since
it's the _only_ app suggested so far that's completely hands free!
--
Together we can learn far more than any one of us can by learning alone.