Computer Systems Technical Group

1. Mounting a video camera to the phone and directing it toward the screen with a device called Mr. Tappy or similar custom-built devices.
2. Screen mirroring / screen casting
3. Taping off an area of a worksurface and asking the participant to interact with the phone / app keeping it on the worksurface within the bounds of the tape and capturing interaction with an overhead camera.

Each has it's pros and cons. Solution 1 (mounting the camera to the phone) allows video capture of the user touch interactions with the screen, as well as the app's display, but results in an unnatural feel when handing the phone as the camera and mounting bracket increase mass and rotational inertia. I recall that we had some reliability issues with the screen mirroring (Solution 2), but that was a few years ago, and things may be improved. In iOS, the screen mirroring does not display where the person touches the screen -- that can only be inferred by the app's response. As I recall, screen casting from Android devices allowed us to display a marker on the screen wherever the user touched it, but iOS did not. Solution 3 (limiting use of the phone to a restricted area on a surface) also results in unnatural use of the touch screen since the participant cannot hold the phone normally. 

I haven't done any of these types of recordings in a few years and wonder if there are any better tools available now. Please share your thoughts and suggestions (preferably to the group, or separately to me and I can post a summary).