There are new shortcuts to be found when you know how to change the side key settings on your Samsung Galaxy device. Although we still call it the power button out of habit, the right side key on a Galaxy phone can do much more than just turn the phone on and off.
Going to the correct section of the Settings menu, it can quickly open an app of your choice with a double-press, or wake up your digital assistant with a long-press. Of course, if you prefer, you can keep it as just a power button to avoid overcomplicating the controls or risking annoying trigger clicks.
Below we’ll show you how to change the side key settings on Samsung phones, and what kind of settings you can enable or disable while you’re there. We at Tom’s Guide love getting the most out of our devices, and so we want to show you how to do the same with methods like this.
How to change the Side key settings on your Samsung Galaxy device
We performed the following steps on the Galaxy Z Fold 4, so things might look a little different on your Samsung phone. That goes double if you’re using a Galaxy model that has separate power and Bixby buttons, like the Galaxy S10.
1. Open the Settings app And the Determine Advanced Options.
2. From the list of advanced features, Press the side key.
3. We are now in the submenu where we can start playing around with different options. First, let’s look at the double-tap options. Press the double pressure switch button to turn on the feature.
4. There are three different double tap options. You can have it open the Camera app, which can be a handy shortcut when a snapshot presents itself (as opposed to that water bottle on my desk).
You can also have it open Samsung Pay, giving you quick access to your payment cards when you need to check out somewhere or pay for public transportation.
Finally, you can set it to open an app of your choice. The possibilities here are only limited by your installed apps.
5. The other thing you can change in this menu is what a long press of the power button does. One option is to have it bring up the shutdown menu, allowing you to restart or shut down the phone, initiate emergency mode or quickly return to the side switch settings menu to fiddle with these options further.
The other option is to take a long call with Bixby, Samsung’s own digital assistant. Doing so will take you directly to the Bixby app where you can then order things via voice command.
There are many other ways to get the most out of your Android phone. Some of the basic features that we recommend to know are how to show battery percentage on Android phones, how to change app permissions on Android and how to disable location tracking on Android.
If you want to be creative and/or productive, check out how to transfer photos from Android to PC or how to sign documents on Android. And if you just want to relax, read about how to watch Apple TV Plus on Android and feel amazing about watching Apple video without using one of its devices.