How to use palm gestures to take selfies on a Samsung phone

Selfies are one of the most common (and may we say, loved!) use cases on a smartphone. At the same time, amongst the most challenging ones. If you have ever taken a selfie on your own, then you may already know the struggle of holding the phone in one hand and tapping the shutter button. The result is a selfie which makes the effort all too obvious.

The struggle doesn’t just stop at solo selfies, and extends all the more to group selfies where you must look for one with a long arm so everyone can fit in the frame. If this struggle seems all too familiar then don’t worry. If you own a Samsung device, there is a simple solution. A simple tweak on your Samsung smartphone’s camera settings can solve this problem once and for all. Intrigued? Read on.

Camera settings: How to enable palm gestures on Samsung mobile

If you are someone who takes a lot of selfies or uses the front-facing camera to create content then there is a nifty solution for you. We hear a lot about AI, and smartphone makers are making sure that their smartphones are branded as AI-ready phones. Now, AI is also being used to make the task of taking selfies effortless and fun.

ALSO READ: A guide to using the Camera Assistant app on Samsung Galaxy smartphones

The central idea is that instead of a user taking selfies themselves, they can use a gesture to trigger the camera to do that work for them. Called palm gesture, this useful setting on your Samsung mobile’s camera settings can transform how you take selfies.

Selfie photo settings: How to enable palm gestures on a Samsung smartphone

Interestingly, the feature designed by Google is not restricted to the search giant’s own smartphones. If you have Google’s Pixel range of smartphones then the feature is already baked into the camera experience. However, for Samsung mobile users, you have to first enable the feature. Here’s how you can enable palm gestures to take a selfie on your Samsung Galaxy device:

Step 1: Open the camera app on your Samsung smartphone.

Step 2: Tap the gear icon in the upper left corner.

Step 3: Tap on ‘Shooting Methods’.

Step 4: Enable the toggle next to the ‘Show Palm’ option.

Step 5: Exit camera settings and return to the camera interface.

How to use the palm gesture to take a selfie on a Samsung smartphone

It is important to know that the palm gesture should work on Samsung Galaxy smartphone running OneUI based on Android 13 or later. Once you have enabled the feature using the steps mentioned above, all you need to do is open your camera app, enable the front camera and then hold up your palm towards the camera. Now, the camera app will recognise your palm and will trigger the selfie action.

As soon as your camera app recognises the palm gesture, it will first start the camera countdown. Once the camera countdown hits zero, the selfie will be captured and you can either retake the selfie or share it. It may seem like a very simple trick but it is so useful that once you enable it, you won’t go back to raising your arm long to capture a selfie.