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I have used Android for years and for most Android phones, pressing power + Volume Down together takes a screenshot.

I have used my Google Pixel 6 for 2 years now, and the screenshot function has always worked perfectly fine.

Recently, an automatic update added the Google Assistant function to my phone. Now, when I press power + Volume Down, it no longer takes a screenshot but instead, the Google Assistant panel appears. Google Assistant is not available in my country, so unfortunately this panel cannot help me take a screenshot.

I tried turning off Google Assistant, and changing the default Digital Assistant app, but all the combinations of options I tried do not bring back the screenshot function. Here are the settings that I tried:

Default digital assistant app Google Assistant What Happens when I press Power + Vol Down
None Off Nothing
Google Assistant On Google Assistant launches, but Google Assistant is not available in my country so nothing happens
Google Assistant Off A panel pops up that says Google Assistant is ready, and an Activate button

How do I get back the screenshot functionality?

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    Possibly related/duplicate: my answer to "Long-pressing power button shows Assistant, how to restart the device?"
    – Andrew T. ♦
    Sep 29 at 7:16
  • @AndrewT. Thank you for that link. That answer is definitely related. Thanks to it, I can now access the power menu. However, I do not think that mine question is a duplicate, since I am still unable to take screenshots after getting my power menu back.
    – My other car is a cadr
    Sep 29 at 9:12
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    I'm confused by this. Google Assistant was assigned to a long press on the power button, but power+volume down should still take screenshots. Is the problem perhaps that you are not pressing them simultaneously, but instead pressing power first, followed by volume down? If you do it too slowly, it will indeed trigger Google Assistant (due to holding power) and no screenshot will be taken.
    – Herohtar
    Sep 29 at 17:43

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
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Your problem is in two parts:

  • Unable to get power menu, which you could solve thanks to Andrew's answer

  • You have a non-functional Google assistant (why do they even roll it out to countries where it doesn't work?) and borks your ability to take screen shots using power + Volume Down. A four year old reddit thread offered a possibility. It asks you to install Screenshot Assistant from F-Droid with instructions:

Screenshot assistant is a replacement for Google Assistant with the sole purpose of taking, cropping and sharing a screenshot.

👉 Setup instructions:

  1. Install the app
  2. Set it as assistant via Apps > Default Apps > Assist app
  3. Trigger Google Assistant

On my Pixel 6a , Android 13, Google assistant works fine for me, but I set it up as explained above:

enter image description here

And I was able to take screen shot using power + Volume Down. Hopefully this should work for you too. Using a third party app to do what is natively expected is rather stupid but in your situation may help given that the app is from F-Droid (reliable) and you want the old functionality back despite Google's shenanigans.

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The screenshot shortcut has not changed. I have my suspicions that your issue stems from not pressing power+volume down simultaneously (at nearly the same time), but that instead you are likely pressing and holding power first, followed by volume down shortly afterwards.

Indeed, even a slight delay between pressing the two will result in either Google Assistant activating or the volume adjustment controls popping up. Maybe the power button changes made the screenshot button combo less forgiving.

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