The buttons on your Android phone aren't just for adjusting the volume or waking up the screen. With a few simple tweaks, they can become shortcuts for taking a quick photo, skipping songs, launching apps, or even activating emergency features.
7. The Basics
You already use the power button to lock and unlock your phone, but if you press and hold it, it won't power off your phone, but will instead launch your default digital assistant, be it Gemini , Bixby , or any other assistant. You can change which assistant is activated or disable this shortcut altogether by going to Settings > Advanced Features > Side Button > Long press .
If you hold down the power button and the volume down button at the same time, you'll see the power menu. From there, you can turn off your device, restart it, or boot into Safe Mode (by pressing and holding the Power Off icon ).
6. Instant photography
The camera on your Android phone is capable of taking stunning photos and sharp videos. But not every moment requires you to unlock your screen, launch the camera app, and press the shutter button. For those blink-and-you-miss-it moments, your phone's physical buttons can come to your rescue.
On most Android devices, double-pressing the power button will instantly launch the Camera app. By default, this opens the rear camera, but you can customize it to launch the video camera, the front camera, or even portrait mode. Go to Settings > Advanced Features > Side Button > Double press , tap the gear icon next to Camera , and select the option you want.
Once the camera opens, you don't need to press the shutter button; just press either volume button to take a photo. This is especially useful when you want to hold the phone steady or take a quick shot with one hand.
5. Activate emergency assistance quickly
In an emergency, every second counts. That's why Android phones come with built-in emergency features that let you act quickly when you need help most.
Simply press the power button 5 times quickly to activate the phone's Emergency SOS feature. If you're using a Samsung phone, just press it 3 times quickly. This will immediately start calling your local emergency number. If you have emergency contacts set up on your phone, it will also send them a text message with your real-time location.
4. Answer, end, or mute a call
Answering or rejecting a phone call is usually simple, but what about when your hands are dirty, wet, or wearing gloves? Sure, if you're wearing a headset that supports call controls, you'll be protected. But if not, the physical buttons on your phone can handle calls just as easily.
When a call comes in, press either volume button to instantly silence the ringer. This is a quick way to silence an incoming call, even if your phone is still in your pocket.
And that's it; you can now manage your phone calls with just one tap. Just be careful not to accidentally hang up when you're about to turn off your screen!
3. Unlock hidden accessibility shortcuts
Android phones come with built-in accessibility features that are helpful to everyone. For example, Magnification turns your camera into a magnifying glass, while Extra dim reduces the screen brightness below the normal minimum. You also have Live Caption , which automatically adds captions to videos so you can enjoy them in noisy environments or when you need to turn down the volume.
And luckily, you don’t have to dig through the settings menu every time you want to use these features. Instead, you can turn your phone’s physical buttons into quick-access shortcuts.
2. Professional music control
You don't have to wake your phone to skip tracks when listening to music or a podcast ; pressing and holding the volume buttons on your phone can help you do that. By default, Android doesn't let you skip tracks using the volume keys, but that's easy to change with an app.
If you're using a Samsung Galaxy phone, download the Sound Assistant app from the Galaxy Store. Once you've set it up, turn on the Control music with Volume keys option . You can then choose to hold the volume up button to skip to the next or previous song, and do the same with the volume down button.
1. Customize buttons to do almost anything
If some of the previously mentioned shortcuts are not available on your phone, or if you want complete control over the functionality of your buttons, download the Button Mapper app from the Play Store.
Once set up, Button Mapper lets you assign custom actions to almost any button on your device, including volume up, volume down, and even the button on your headphones. You can set different actions for a single tap, double tap, and long press.
To get started, open the app and tap the button you want to customize. Next, choose the tap type — single, double, or long press — and then assign an action.
You can use a button to open recent apps, launch your favorite app, call a specific contact, enable Do Not Disturb mode, or even jump straight to a WhatsApp chat. There are a lot of options to explore, so it all depends on how creative you are.
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