Galaxy S6 Guide

How to use Galaxy S6 motions and gestures?

Make direct call without dialing a number, alert you for missed calls or unread messages when picking up the phone, mute Galaxy S6 ringtone instantly with your palm, and take screenshot with your palm

Table of Contents hide
1) You can use Galaxy S6 motions and gestures to control your Galaxy S6 or S6 edge
2) What functions are offered by Galaxy S6 motions and gestures?
2.1) Direct Call
2.2) Smart Alert
2.3) Mute
2.4) Screen capture
3) How to enable/disable Galaxy S6 motions and gestures?
4) How to use Galaxy S6 motions and gestures?
4.1) Can you use Galaxy S6 motions and gestures now?

galaxy_s6_motions_and_gestures_direct-callYou can use Galaxy S6 motions and gestures to control your Galaxy S6 or S6 edge

As you already learnt, you can use your palm to take screenshot on Galaxy S6. This is one example of Galaxy S6 motions and gestures.

Basically, Galaxy S6 allows you to control your phone with certain gestures and motions.

The accelerometer and gyroscope in Galaxy S6 is able to determine the orientation of the Galaxy S6 and motions. The front camera and proximity sensor is able to identify your gestures.

This is how Galaxy S6 motions and gestures work.

Actually, Galaxy S6 motions and gestures are not new. In previous generations of Galaxy devices, Samsung already introduced motions and gestures. But in Galaxy S6, this feature works better.

What functions are offered by Galaxy S6 motions and gestures?

Galaxy S6 motions and gestures offers 4 different features:

  1. Direct call;
  2. Smart alert;
  3. Mute;
  4. Screen capture (screenshot).

Direct Call

When you are checking phone logs, or checking details of a contact, or reading a message, if you move the phone to your ear, Galaxy S6 will call the contact automatically. You don’t need to dial the number.

Samsung named this feature as direct call.

When you in contact page, if the contact has several numbers, the direct call will call the first one in the list.

Smart Alert

Galaxy S6 can alert you by vibrating once if you have missed calls or new messages when you pick up the phone.

Smart alert may not work if the screen is turned on or if Galaxy S6 is not on a flat surface.

Mute

You can mute incoming calls or alarms on Galaxy S6 by putting your palm over the screen, or turn over the screen so that the screen is facing downwards.

Of course, this works when you are in sound mode.  When it rings, you want to mute the ring. If you want to silence Galaxy S6 or Galaxy S6 edge, please read this guide.

Please note, mute function of Galaxy S6 motions and gestures can only mute ringtones and alarm tones. It does not mute music or videos.

Screen capture

As discussed in how to take screenshot on Galaxy S6 page, swipe your palm over the screen (method 2) is one of the two methods available on Galaxy S6 and S6 edge to take a screenshot without using any apps.

Of course, this method has lower successful rate than Home+Power key method when taking screenshot on Galaxy S6. It requires some training.

If you fails to get a screenshot, you may try to practice more. It is quite fun.

How to enable/disable Galaxy S6 motions and gestures?

Samsung allows you to enable or disable  Galaxy S6 motions and gestures. You can enable/disable individual features as well.

To enable or disable  Galaxy S6 motions and gestures, you may Go to Settings— Motions and gestures as shown below.

In Galaxy S6 motions and gestures page, you can enable/turn on individual features as shown below.

Drag the switch the right to enable the corresponding feature.  The color of the switch will be shown as green in the default theme. If you are using other Galaxy S6 themes, the color may be different.

Drag the switch to left to disable the corresponding feature.

galaxy_s6_motions_and_gestures_1_settings galaxy_s6_motions_and_gestures_2_enable_disable

How to use Galaxy S6 motions and gestures?

Once any of the 4 features in Galaxy S6 motions and gestures are enabled, Galaxy S6 will detect the corresponding motions and gestures automatically, and therefore you can use them.

Please note, some other motions and gestures are grouped into other categories in the Galaxy S6 settings. For example, smart stay is under Settings—Display.

Also, Galaxy S6 front camera can be controlled by gesture (palm). The setting is under camera app. Please refer to this guide on using Galaxy S6 camera gesture control.

Can you use Galaxy S6 motions and gestures now?

If you have any questions or get any problems to use Galaxy S6 motions and gestures on your Galaxy S6 or Galaxy S6 edge, please let us know them in the comment box below.

The community will try to help you.

For other features of Galaxy S6, please check Galaxy S6 online manual page.

For detailed guides on how to use Samsung Galaxy S6, please check Galaxy S6 how-to guides page.

For detailed guides on how to use Galaxy S6 camera, please check Galaxy S6 camera guide page.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  2. Andy Stanley says

    Does the opaque border of the Tech Armor ballistic glass screen protector interfere with the motion sensors? Palm swipe and screen capture doesn’t work. I never tried using these features prior to installing the screen protector.
    Thank you.

    Reply

  3. Richard says

    my motion gestures are not working, even though I turned them on, only the palm swipe is work, the mute, smart alert, direct call, are not working at all. please what can i do?

    Reply

  4. Kish says

    Hi I recently got a brand new S6
    However the motions and gestures never seems to work even after I have disabled and enabled them all
    Non of the gestures seem to work why 🙁

    Reply

  5. Alisa says

    My motion and gestures to make a direct call and palm swipe to not work and I don’t know why please help

    Reply

  6. Emma Hudson says

    I’ve just got the S6 this week and the screen shot is the only gesture to work. I’ve restarted the phone a few times and move the phone slowly. I’ve love to get direct call and smart alert to work – any help appreciated.

    Reply

  7. Maleeha says

    Even if I have enabled motions and gestures, none of them is working out for me.. Its not been even a week using this phone.,samsung galaxy s6., and this problem.

    Reply

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