There is fresh movement around The 5 most useful Android camera features that work without touching your screen, and the story is worth a closer look.
We pulled together what is known so far and what it could mean for the people following it.
Having a camera with you at all times is a huge convenience, and smartphones have made that possible. However, using a touchscreen isn’t always ideal when you’re trying to take a photo. The good news is that almost every Android phone has several different ways to take a photo without touching the screen at all.
The benefits of having a physical camera shutter button on a traditional dedicated camera are manifold. You don’t have to look at the camera to find the button; you can wear gloves, and you can rest your finger on the button and then depress it at just the right moment, instead of hovering over it as is the case with a smartphone camera app.
Well, you can do exactly the same thing with most Android phones. for example, I currently have a Samsung S25 Ultra, and, by default, the volume-down button acts as a shutter button when you’re using the bundled camera app.
If you go to Settings > Apps > Camera > Camera Settings > Shooting Methods, you can customize this behavior.
Keep in mind that the exact path and available settings differ from one Android phone to the next.
Modern Android phones pretty much all let you launch the camera app with a hardware button shortcut. You don’t need to unlock the phone or anything, so it’s the best way to capture something happening as quickly as possible. The standard shortcut is a quick double-press of the power button. Well, it’s not really a power button anymore, but I digress.
On some phones, you might have other options, especially if it’s a model with additional programmable buttons, but that’s something you’ll have to look up on an individual basis.
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Using my voice to activate the camera shutter is by far my favorite shortcut, and I use it all the time. I love taking macro photos with my phone, and these are some examples of my favorites.
But how does voice activation relate to taking these photos? Well, often even the smallest amount of movement or vibration will ruin a photo at this scale, and that includes the hand movement and tapping needed to use the touch screen. With a voice command, I can get the camera into the best position, lock it in, and just say “capture” or whatever the trigger word is.
I’ve also used it when taking photos of skittish small animals, by putting my phone at the end of a long selfie stick, and triggering the shutter with my voice. Believe me, once you realize you can just take a photo with a word, it might become your preferred way of shooting.
With traditional cameras, it’s common to use a remote shutter device. Sometimes this is a long, wired apparatus that you hold and press a button to take the photo. These days, it’s more common to use a wireless remote shutter instead. This isn’t just limited to dedicated cameras. You can use a remote Bluetooth shutter device to trigger your camera, and they’re usually under twenty bucks.
If you have a smartwatch, then you already have a way to trigger or control your camera app remotely. You may have to download a specific app from your watch’s app store, but this is a great use of the pairing between watch and phone.
The remaining methods at our disposal aren’t my favorites because they’re somewhat janky. Some phones allow for gesture-based triggering. So you set up the camera, walk over to where you want to be photographed, and then make a hand gesture such as showing your palm to the camera. You get a short countdown, and then the photo is taken.
This has the same issues as using a remote shutter, of course, in the sense that you can’t see the viewfinder when the photo is taken, unless you use the selfie camera. Which isn’t a bad idea in some cases.
Finally, there’s the venerable timer option. On my Samsung Galaxy phone, I can choose between a 2, 5, or 10-second delay. Which doesn’t give you much time to jog over to your mark and strike a pose, but it costs nothing and is useful in a pinch if you just want to take a photo with some friends and you’ve propped up your phone with an empty soda can. Actually, just use the palm gesture.
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