Teach by Doing: Pro Recorder App Review

“The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires.” ~ William Arthur Ward

It is best to teach by example. Now that everything is on a digital platform it can be difficult to find the right words to explain an action step-by-step to someone. Whether it is a menial task like sorting through spam email or getting a website listing to appear on a mobile platform, it is confusing to explain something in an email or text message. I find myself to be a visual learner and the best way to show me something is a short video tutorial.

Thank goodness for app developers: Pro Recorder (Free): Record Web Screen/Video – for Dropbox and Google Driver is By the company CONG DUC TRAN is the solution to my problem. As I often do, I was browsing the app store looking for something that could capture my screen actions in a video. I am familiar with other programs but they only cover my desktop or laptop, not my iPhone or iPad. Using this is a breeze, especially since you can easily save to a Dropbox or Google Drive account. It makes sharing the video easy and since it saves on a cloud storage platform no need to eat up all your memory. 

There are many free plug-ins and apps that will capture your screen in stills and in video via your PC or laptop. There are just a few that do screen capture video on your tablet or phone. Pro Recorder is a great way to create simple tutorial videos for your employees or for friends. I use the app quite a bit myself to show Virtual Assistance professionals or web designers how to do something or how a digital project is working (or not working) on my end. I also find it handy if I am doing something like a complicated multi-step login. I use the video as a refresher for my own memory. It’s a free app so there’s no buy-in at the start. It is simple enough to use if you’ve ever used a free plugin for your laptop like Nimbus or a screen capture software that came preloaded in your desktop.

Simply download the app and the start screen will ask you what you would like to do: Choose a previously recorded file, copy from camera roll, record a video, or record from the web. I usually use the ‘record from web’ option because I use this as a tutorial to show my assistant or designer how things are working or how I would like them to work. It does have issues with the audio, but I mostly need the visual screen capture function. If there are specific instructions, I’d recommend sending an additional email or text message when you share a video with someone. I will note the time on the video where I need a change or when there is a major point of interest.

This app does exactly what I need it to do, but others have been challenged by the update. Some people used this as a way to record and store music files, which might be why the app was updated. It no longer allows for users to avoid download fees associated with music files. I do find it useful for what my own needs are. It may not meet your needs in the same way, but thankfully it is a free app. I suppose you get what you pay for in this case. To be fair I haven’t found any other app that accomplishes this task which has been difficult for me to capture on my iPhone. For short video tutorials or showing how mobile sites behave to others, this is brilliant.