How to Record Slow-Motion Video on Any Android Phone (2026)

Slow motion is one of those camera features everyone has and almost nobody uses well. Water splashes, a dog shaking off, your friend missing a basketball shot. The right clip at 240fps looks better than anything you’ll shoot in normal video all week. The catch: every phone maker hides the mode in a slightly different place, and slow motion has one strict demand that trips people up constantly. Here’s how to record slow-motion videos on a Pixel or any other Android phone in 2026.

The quick answer: Open your camera app and look for a mode called Slow motion, Slo-mo, or Super Slow-mo: on Pixels it’s in the mode carousel at the bottom of Pixel Camera, on Samsung phones it’s under the More tab, and on Xiaomi, OnePlus, and most other brands it sits in the mode list or behind a “More” button. Pick a frame rate before you shoot: 120fps is a gentle 4x slowdown that works almost anywhere, 240fps is the dramatic 8x look most people want, and 960fps (Samsung’s Super Slow-mo) is for split-second moments only. The single biggest rule: shoot in bright light, ideally outdoors. High frame rates starve the sensor of light, so indoor slow-mo turns grainy and flickery fast. If you forgot to use the mode, Google Photos can add a slow-motion effect to a normal video afterward. It just won’t look as smooth.

What 120fps, 240fps, and 960fps actually mean

Normal video plays at 30 frames per second. Slow motion works by recording far more frames than that, then playing them back at normal speed.

• 120fps: played back at 30fps, this gives you a 4x slowdown. Motion stays smooth and detailed, and most phones can do it at 1080p or even 4K. It’s the safe default.
• 240fps. An 8x slowdown. This is the classic dramatic slow-mo look. Most phones cap it at 1080p, and it demands noticeably more light.
• 960fps. A 32x slowdown, marketed by Samsung as Super Slow-mo. It captures well under a second of action and stretches it into several seconds of footage. Some implementations interpolate frames (the phone invents in-between frames with software) rather than truly capturing 960 real frames, so results vary by model.

Higher isn’t automatically better. A 240fps clip of someone walking looks like nothing is happening. Match the frame rate to the speed of the action: fast, violent motion earns high frame rates; gentle motion looks best at 120fps.

How to shoot slow motion on a Pixel

Pixel Camera keeps it simple:

1. Open the Pixel Camera app.
2. Swipe through the mode carousel at the bottom to Video.
3. Tap the speed toggle (it shows 1x) above the shutter and choose 1/4x for 120fps or 1/8x for 240fps.
4. Hit record. That’s it. The whole clip records at the high frame rate.

After recording, open the clip in Google Photos and you can drag the slow-motion range handles to choose exactly which part of the video plays slowly and which parts play at normal speed. That trimming step is where slow-mo clips go from decent to great, so don’t skip it.

How to shoot slow motion on a Samsung Galaxy

Samsung splits slow motion into two separate modes, and it matters which one you pick:

1. Open the Camera app and swipe to the More tab.
2. Choose Slow motion for standard 240fps recording. You control when recording starts and stops, like a normal video.
3. Choose Super Slow-mo for the 960fps mode. Here the phone captures only a fraction of a second. You can either tap the shutter manually at the exact moment, or use automatic motion detection, where you frame a detection box and the phone triggers itself when something moves through it.

Super Slow-mo’s motion detection is genuinely useful because human reaction time isn’t fast enough to catch a balloon pop or a splash by hand. Frame the shot, arm the detector, and let the phone do the timing. Availability of 960fps depends on the model: flagships get it, most A-series phones stop at 240fps.

Xiaomi, OnePlus, and other Android brands

The pattern is the same everywhere, just with different labels:

• Xiaomi / Redmi / POCO: open the Camera app, tap More in the mode row, and pick Slow motion. A frame-rate selector at the top lets you switch between 120, 240, and on some flagships 480 or 960fps.
• OnePlus / Oppo / Realme: swipe the mode carousel or tap More, select Slo-mo, then choose the frame rate from the toggle on screen.
• Motorola, Nothing, and others: check the mode list or the settings gear inside the camera app. Nearly every Android phone sold since 2020 records at least 120fps.

If you can’t find the mode at all, search your camera app’s settings for “slow”. A few OEMs bury it as a video setting rather than a standalone mode.

Why slow motion needs so much light

This is the part nobody reads until after their footage comes out looking like static. At 30fps, each frame can gather light for up to 1/30th of a second. At 240fps, each frame gets at most 1/240th of a second. An eighth of the light. The sensor compensates by cranking up ISO (its sensitivity), and high ISO is exactly what produces grain and smeared detail.

There’s a second problem indoors: flicker. LED and fluorescent lights pulse with your electrical mains: 100 or 120 times per second depending on your country. At normal frame rates you never see it. At 240fps, the camera is sampling faster than the light is pulsing, so your footage strobes with rolling bright and dark bands. Sunlight doesn’t flicker.

Practical rules:

• Shoot outdoors in daylight whenever possible. Direct sun is ideal for 240fps and above.
• Indoors, get close to a window or use a bright, constant light source.
• If indoor footage flickers, drop from 240fps to 120fps. It often samples more agreeably with mains-powered lighting.
• Never bother with slow motion at night. No phone handles it well.

Slowing down a video after the fact in Google Photos

Forgot to switch modes? You have a fallback. Open any video in Google Photos, tap Edit, and look for the speed control. You can slow a section of a regular video down, and on recent Pixels and many other phones, Google Photos uses frame interpolation, software that generates in-between frames, to smooth out the result rather than just holding each frame longer.

Be honest about the limits, though. A 30fps clip slowed 4x only has a quarter of the frames it needs, and generated frames can look soft or wobbly around fast-moving edges. It’s a rescue tool, not a substitute for shooting at 120 or 240fps in the first place.

Third-party camera apps

If your phone’s stock app limits frame rates or resolutions, third-party camera apps on the Play Store can sometimes unlock higher-frame-rate modes the hardware supports but the OEM app doesn’t expose. Results depend heavily on your specific chipset and how much camera access the manufacturer allows, so treat these as an experiment rather than a guarantee. For most people, the stock camera app’s slow-motion mode is the best-tuned option on the phone.

FAQ

Why is my slow-motion video grainy?

Not enough light. High frame rates give the sensor a fraction of the usual exposure time per frame, so the camera raises ISO and grain appears. Shoot in daylight or under strong constant lighting, and drop to 120fps if 240fps looks noisy.

Can I slow down a normal video I already recorded?

Yes. Open it in Google Photos, tap Edit, and use the speed tool to slow a section down. It works, but a 30fps source can’t match the smoothness of footage actually shot at 120 or 240fps: expect some softness on fast motion.

Which frame rate should I pick?

120fps for everyday moments and anything indoors, 240fps for fast action in good light, and 960fps (where available) only for split-second events like pops, splashes, and impacts. When in doubt, 120fps is the most forgiving.

Can I record slow motion with the front camera?

On most phones, no, or only at a reduced frame rate like 120fps on some flagships. Slow motion is heavy on the image processor, and front sensors are usually the weaker hardware. Check your camera app: if the slow-mo mode hides the camera-flip button, the front camera doesn’t support it.