5 Hidden Features of Your Android Phone’s Power Button

The power button on our Android devices is mainly used to turn the screen on and off, and to restart or turn off the device. We press that button many times a day, without thinking about it like anything else. But the truth is that many companies, including Samsung, no longer call it the “power button”. Samsung now calls it the “side key,” and there’s a reason for that — holding it down on a modern Galaxy phone doesn’t bring up the power menu at all. In Android’s new default settings, it triggers Gemini.

The good news is that you can now configure it to use different actions with different amounts of pressure. Press it once, then quickly five times, then twice in a row, and you will get a completely different result each time. Some of them are more useful than a simple power off menu, so we dug into the settings to look for them and found a few hidden Android tricks worth knowing and five ways to activate them using the side key.

The best part is that all these functions work with modern Samsung Galaxy phones, and some are available on many Android phones. The following five combinations are worth committing to memory, because chances are you’ll need at least one of them often. Here’s what you can do with Android’s power button, or side key.

When you tap the power button five times in quick succession, your Android phone activates Emergency SOS. This function, even if the screen is locked, you can sound an alarm, take a few photos, share your live location, and alert emergency contacts you have set up ahead of time. It constantly shares your updated location with emergency contacts every 15 minutes for the next 24 hours. You can also turn on options like Require Swipe to Call to make sure no emergency calls are made by mistake.

On top of this, there is also an option to set a countdown, so pressing by mistake doesn’t accidentally hang up the phone. To set up Emergency SOS, you just need to go to Settings > Security & Emergency > Emergency SOS. You can toggle the Send SOS to Emergency Contacts option to send an alert to selected contacts in case of any emergency. You can add emergency contacts from the Emergency Contacts option within the Safety & Emergency landing page.

The Samsung Galaxy Watch’s fall detection works on the same principle – a hard fall triggers a 60-second countdown before an SOS notification is automatically sent to your chosen emergency contacts. To be very safe, you should take the time to set up these tasks in advance. Samsung phones also allow you to add medical information within the Security and Emergency option, so that people helping you have all the information they need, such as known medical conditions, allergies, and blood types.

When you buy a new Samsung Galaxy phone, one of the most frustrating points for any user is the fact that long pressing the power button no longer brings up the power menu automatically. Instead, it introduces Gemini, Google’s AI assistant, ready to take your questions, write a message, or look at files inside the phone, all hands-free. If you want to restore the old power menu, you need to manually change the behavior of the side key.

You need to navigate to Settings > Advanced features > Side button > Long press. Within the menu, you can change the function from Digital Assistant to Power Off Menu. Setting up a side button for a digital assistant can be beneficial or difficult, depending on how you use your phone.

Personally, I use Gemini regularly, and set the side key to trigger the assistant instead of the power menu. This is much faster than looking for the Gemini icon in the long list of apps I have on my phone. You can still turn off your phone by swiping down the Quick Settings panel and tapping the shutdown button, and let’s be honest, this isn’t something you do a few times a day.

Well, this one is a classic, and most of you probably already use it. A quick, simultaneous press of the power and volume down buttons takes a screenshot on almost any Samsung phone. This also works on other brands of phones, but instead of the volume down key, it may be the side volume up button. Holding the same combination for a while may trigger a forced reboot instead of a screenshot. So, time is of the essence here.

Note that there is no way in the settings menu to stop this combination from triggering the screenshot. But you can find other ways to take screenshots by going to Settings > Advanced Features > Motion & Touch. Here, you have the option to open Palm Swipe to capture a screenshot. Honestly, even with this option turned on, I haven’t used it yet, as the good-ol’ down plus side volume button works just fine.

The button combination is the fastest way to touch the screen, and for me, the palm touch was the easiest. Many times, I felt the phone accidentally take a screenshot because it missed something covering the display – like inside my pocket or bag – with a swipe of the palm.

The side key is highly customizable, especially on Samsung Galaxy phones. Most people don’t bother changing it, and the most they do is change it from launching the assistant to opening the power menu. However, you can also assign the side key to launch a specific application or perform a specific task. To adjust the side button settings, go to Settings > Advanced features > Side button > Double press.

First, toggle the double-press option, and you’ll see a list of predefined apps and functions you can assign. These include the camera, flashlight, magnifier, Samsung Notes, Samsung Capture (screenshot), and Modes and Cycles, but you can also set them to open any specific app. Pressing the cogwheel icon that appears when using certain options, such as Camera, Samsung Notes, and Samsung Capture, allows you to customize the option. For example, pressing the Samsung Notes cogwheel icon lets you double-press the side key to open Samsung Notes, paint, record a voice note, type a note, or write with the S-Pen.

You can set the side key on your phone to launch the camera app directly, a feature Samsung calls Quick Launch Camera. It works even if your screen is locked or you’re using another app. Setting this up takes the time it takes to unlock your phone, find the camera app in your app drawer, and launch it. It may take a few seconds, but a few seconds are all you have when you need to capture a new milestone for a toddler or a funny act of your pet.

Just go to Settings > Advanced Features > Side Button > Double Press, and set it to open the Camera app. The best part is that, apart from launching a camera app, Samsung gives you options to record a video, take a photo, or take a selfie. This way, if you want to capture a moment quickly, you can double-tap the side button and start recording. I have this set to Start Recording, since I have a little one at home and I often call up the camera app to capture his sweet words and his first walks.

Within the Camera app, you can set the volume buttons to take photos or record video. You can do this by navigating to Camera > Settings > Shooting Modes. In this way, you can quickly launch the camera application by double-pressing the side key and quickly start recording or taking a picture using the visible volume buttons; perfect setup so you never miss an important moment.