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Most phones have really terrible UIs for getting to something like this. In circumstances where I want to start using an app like this, I usually don't have 5-10 seconds to take my concentration off of my surroundings to load the app. I've been in plenty of situations where I wished I could immediately start recording things but didn't have time to navigate my phone's UI.

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My experience was exactly the same. The record button on the camera app is small and hard to hit if you're running/your hands are shaky. Also if you touch the screen while recording it changes the focus and you could also accidentally end the recording. All these could have serious implications during an emergency.

That's why for Witness I made sure you could touch anywhere on the screen while recording and it would be almost impossible to do any damage. So you can conceal your phone while your fingers rest on the screen.

But how do you get into the app? Don't you have to navigate your phone's OS? I can appreciate what you're saying. There are probably lots of situations where you know you might need it where you can have the app already running. I just wish there was a way to get into something like this or start recording without even having to look at my phone. I think it would be much more useful if you had that.

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