Videos can be trickier than photos to share with friends and family. If you\u2019ve captured more than a few seconds of content, the original file ends up too big to send directly through text message or a chat app like WhatsApp or Hangouts. You can\u2019t upload and send it as-is.<\/p>\n
Fortunately, the default photo gallery app on your phone should have built-in features that circumvent this problem. You just select the video you want to share, generate a link, and then send that URL to your recipient. The app takes care of uploading the file to the cloud and all the other back-end work.<\/p>\n
Here are the details of how to do it.<\/p>\n
How to share video on Android<\/h2>\n![\"samsung]()
<\/a> PCWorld<\/small>\nThese screenshots show the process for sharing a video through the default photo gallery app on a Samsung Galaxy phone.<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\n- Open your phone\u2019s photo gallery app. Samsung users should look for \u201cGallery\u201d and stock Android users should look for \u201cPhotos\u201d (aka Google Photos). Other phone manufacturers will follow similar naming.
\u00a0<\/li>\n - Find the video you want to share. The simplest way to do this is to scroll through your mix of photos and videos. Some apps also let you do a search for the word \u201cvideo,\u201d which will filter and show only that specific file type.
\u00a0<\/li>\n - Long-press on that video. In some apps, a text menu will pop up; choose Share<\/em>. In other apps, you\u2019ll need to find the Share icon and tap on it. (It looks like the letter \u201cV\u201d with dots, rotated clockwise to the right.)
\u00a0<\/li>\n- You can choose to share a link directly to an app, or to copy the link. The former saves a little time if you have only one recipient, while the latter is more helpful if want to paste the URL in several chat windows and\/or apps.
\u00a0<\/li>\n - If you choose to share directly to an app, select the app from the options shown in the menu\u2014typically it will be a chat or email app.
\u00a0<\/li>\n - If you create a link, it\u2019ll get copied to your phone\u2019s clipboard, and now you can manually navigate to the app(s) you want to paste it into. Fire away!<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
Having trouble getting these steps to work in your phone\u2019s default gallery app? Google Photos is available to everyone to download in the Google Play Store\u2014so you can use this app specifically for sharing video files. (Note: Sharing videos through Google Photos does eat into your storage allotment for your Google account. By default, free accounts have 15GB of space shared across all services, which includes Gmail, Drive, and Photos.)<\/p>\n![\"Google]()
<\/a> PCWorld<\/small>\nThese screenshots show the process for sharing a video through the default photo gallery app through Google\u2019s Photos app.<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
Alternative (secure) method<\/h2>\n
As mentioned above, sharing videos in this fashion relies on cloud storage. Samsung\u2019s gallery app uses temporary storage<\/a>, while Google Photos requires that you still have free space attached to your account. In both cases, the file gets put on to a server, and then the app provides a shareable link.<\/p>\nHowever, by default, these links are viewable to everybody\u2014so if your video gets passed on to others without your knowledge, they can watch, too. You can preserve your privacy by instead uploading your files to a cloud storage service (like Google Drive, Dropbox, or OneDrive) and emailing a link that restricts viewing to that specific audience.<\/p>\n![\"example]()
<\/a> PCWorld<\/small>\nAn example of the more secure sharing process, as seen in Dropbox. The process is generally similar in Google Drive, OneDrive, etc, but the details and layout of the app might be a little different.<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
The instructions vary a bit in each service\u2019s app, but you\u2019ll follow these general steps:<\/p>\n
\n- Download your chosen service\u2019s app through the Google Play Store app.
\u00a0<\/li>\n - Sign up for or sign in to the service.
\u00a0<\/li>\n - Upload your video. (Usually, you\u2019ll tap a plus-sign icon, then choose from your recent files.)
\u00a0<\/li>\n - Share this new copy of your video. You\u2019ll typically do this by long-pressing on it and pressing the Share icon, or tapping a vertical three-dot icon next to the file and choosing Share<\/em>.
\u00a0<\/li>\n- Choose \u201cInvite people\u201d or \u201cSend to\u201d\u2014while creating a link also exists as an option, that works the same as sharing through Samsung\u2019s Gallery app or Google Photos and does not restrict access.
\u00a0<\/li>\n - Fill in the email addresses of the people you wish to send the link to. In some apps, you may also need to change the permission level from Edit <\/em>to View<\/em>, and\/or enable a sign-in requirement to get access to the file.
\u00a0<\/li>\n- Send the invites.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n
\t\t<\/p>\n
Note: When you purchase something after clicking links in our articles, we may earn a small commission. Read our affiliate link policy for more details.<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n
![\"samsung](\"https:\/\/images.idgesg.net\/images\/article\/2020\/06\/samsung_link_sharing-100848629-orig.jpg\")
<\/a> PCWorld<\/small>These screenshots show the process for sharing a video through the default photo gallery app on a Samsung Galaxy phone.<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
- \n
- Open your phone\u2019s photo gallery app. Samsung users should look for \u201cGallery\u201d and stock Android users should look for \u201cPhotos\u201d (aka Google Photos). Other phone manufacturers will follow similar naming.
\u00a0<\/li>\n - Find the video you want to share. The simplest way to do this is to scroll through your mix of photos and videos. Some apps also let you do a search for the word \u201cvideo,\u201d which will filter and show only that specific file type.
\u00a0<\/li>\n - Long-press on that video. In some apps, a text menu will pop up; choose Share<\/em>. In other apps, you\u2019ll need to find the Share icon and tap on it. (It looks like the letter \u201cV\u201d with dots, rotated clockwise to the right.)
\u00a0<\/li>\n- You can choose to share a link directly to an app, or to copy the link. The former saves a little time if you have only one recipient, while the latter is more helpful if want to paste the URL in several chat windows and\/or apps.
\u00a0<\/li>\n- If you choose to share directly to an app, select the app from the options shown in the menu\u2014typically it will be a chat or email app.
\u00a0<\/li>\n- If you create a link, it\u2019ll get copied to your phone\u2019s clipboard, and now you can manually navigate to the app(s) you want to paste it into. Fire away!<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
Having trouble getting these steps to work in your phone\u2019s default gallery app? Google Photos is available to everyone to download in the Google Play Store\u2014so you can use this app specifically for sharing video files. (Note: Sharing videos through Google Photos does eat into your storage allotment for your Google account. By default, free accounts have 15GB of space shared across all services, which includes Gmail, Drive, and Photos.)<\/p>\n
![\"Google]()
<\/a> PCWorld<\/small>\n These screenshots show the process for sharing a video through the default photo gallery app through Google\u2019s Photos app.<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
Alternative (secure) method<\/h2>\n
As mentioned above, sharing videos in this fashion relies on cloud storage. Samsung\u2019s gallery app uses temporary storage<\/a>, while Google Photos requires that you still have free space attached to your account. In both cases, the file gets put on to a server, and then the app provides a shareable link.<\/p>\n
However, by default, these links are viewable to everybody\u2014so if your video gets passed on to others without your knowledge, they can watch, too. You can preserve your privacy by instead uploading your files to a cloud storage service (like Google Drive, Dropbox, or OneDrive) and emailing a link that restricts viewing to that specific audience.<\/p>\n
![\"example]()
<\/a> PCWorld<\/small>\n An example of the more secure sharing process, as seen in Dropbox. The process is generally similar in Google Drive, OneDrive, etc, but the details and layout of the app might be a little different.<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
The instructions vary a bit in each service\u2019s app, but you\u2019ll follow these general steps:<\/p>\n
- \n
- Download your chosen service\u2019s app through the Google Play Store app.
\u00a0<\/li>\n - Sign up for or sign in to the service.
\u00a0<\/li>\n - Upload your video. (Usually, you\u2019ll tap a plus-sign icon, then choose from your recent files.)
\u00a0<\/li>\n - Share this new copy of your video. You\u2019ll typically do this by long-pressing on it and pressing the Share icon, or tapping a vertical three-dot icon next to the file and choosing Share<\/em>.
\u00a0<\/li>\n- Choose \u201cInvite people\u201d or \u201cSend to\u201d\u2014while creating a link also exists as an option, that works the same as sharing through Samsung\u2019s Gallery app or Google Photos and does not restrict access.
\u00a0<\/li>\n- Fill in the email addresses of the people you wish to send the link to. In some apps, you may also need to change the permission level from Edit <\/em>to View<\/em>, and\/or enable a sign-in requirement to get access to the file.
\u00a0<\/li>\n- Send the invites.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
\n\t\t<\/p>\n
Note: When you purchase something after clicking links in our articles, we may earn a small commission. Read our affiliate link policy for more details.<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n - Choose \u201cInvite people\u201d or \u201cSend to\u201d\u2014while creating a link also exists as an option, that works the same as sharing through Samsung\u2019s Gallery app or Google Photos and does not restrict access.
- You can choose to share a link directly to an app, or to copy the link. The former saves a little time if you have only one recipient, while the latter is more helpful if want to paste the URL in several chat windows and\/or apps.