Hands

In OneUI you have the ability to take a photo without touching the buttons or the shutter button on the screen

One of the most useful features baked into Samsung's Android skin - called OneUI - is the ability to snap photos without touching the buttons or the onscreen shutter button. Instead, you can use a palm gesture or voice command to take a selfie, which means you can set your phone up on a tripod, or rest it against a surface, frame yourself and take your picture without having to stretch awkwardly to reach your phone. Or, if you have the S22 Ultra or S23 Ultra, you can use the S Pen's shortcut button instead.

By default, your new Samsung phone should already have this feature enabled. To see if it has, load up your Samsung camera app and change the camera to the selfie/front-facing camera if that lens isn't selected already. Simply raise a free palm to the camera so that you can see your whole palm in the frame.

If the feature is available and active you'll see a countdown icon that looks like quarter segments filling up a circle. Pose and pull your palm away before the countdown finishes. If it doesn't work, it may not be active, and you'll need to follow the steps below to enable it:

With that enabled you should be able to follow the first set of instructions, just simply raising your palm so that it's in view of the camera and it'll snap a selfie for you after a countdown.

Unlike the palm gestures, the voice commands option isn't enabled by default. You have to switch it on, but once you do all you need to do is say 'smile', 'capture', 'shoot' or 'cheese' and it'll take a photo. Follow the steps below to enable voice commands:

Once enabled you can say 'smile', 'cheese', 'capture' or 'shoot' when in photo mode, or if you're recording a video - just say 'record video'. It should hear you and action your command straight away if you're using the rear cameras. If you're taking a selfie with the front camera you'll get a countdown graphic like the palm gesture one above.

You can use your S Pen as your shutter button if you have either the Galaxy S22 Ultra or S23 Ultra (or even some older Galaxy Note models). Just load up the camera app and click the button on the side of the S Pen. Simple. If it doesn't work, open Settings > Advanced features and find 'S Pen'. On the next screen look for 'Air actions' and ensure the toggle is switched on.

For more tips and tricks like this, be sure to check out our extensive guide.

Cam has worked in online tech reporting since 2010. His responsibilities at Pocket-lint include producing and hosting quality, personable and informative YouTube videos on our growing channel as well as writing reviews and features. Prior to Pocket-lint he honed his video skills at PhoneDog, and wrote for 9to5Google.In that time, his areas of focus and expertise have mostly been smartphones and smartwatches, but with experience filming for the channel, he's equally adept at reviewing cameras. He’s a graduate in Film and TV Production, and in his spare time, he’s usually throwing kettlebells around, doing yoga or training in the arts of coffee snobbery.