One of the great things about smartwatches tied into an ecosystem is that it enables you to control some of the functionality of your connected smartphone – or other devices – from your wrist. That’s certainly true of the Galaxy Watch 6 and Galaxy Watch 6 Classic when paired and connected with a Samsung phone.
One feature, in particular, adds to the existing hands-free photo shooting methods – like auto smile capture and palm recognition – by allowing you to snap a photo by pressing a button on your watch. It’s called Camera Controller and is available on the latest watches, as well as some older models.
How to use Camera Controller on Samsung Galaxy Watch
For this guide, we’re going to assume you already have your Galaxy Watch connected and paired to a compatible Samsung phone (models detailed below).
To use it you need to find the Camera Controller app on your Galaxy Watch. It’s pre-installed on all the Wear OS-powered Galaxy Watches, so is already installed if you have the Galaxy Watch 6 and 6 Classic, Galaxy Watch 5 and 5 Pro, Galaxy Watch 4 and 4 Classic.
If you’re struggling to tell which app it is: it’s a red round icon with a white camera icon on it. If it’s not there, it could be because you don’t have your watch connected to a compatible Samsung smartphone. If you have found it, follow the steps below:
- Launch the Camera Controller app on your Galaxy Watch
- Tap ‘Allow’ to let the app find and connect to nearby devices
- Wait for the camera preview to load
- Angle your camera and mount it to frame your subject/self
- To change the camera being used – you’ll need to use your phone camera app as normal
- If you’re happy with the shot, tap the white button on the watch to capture
If you’re wanting to set the phone up for a selfie – you can tap the timer icon at the top of the watch screen to change to a three-second countdown. This functionality might be activated already when you first load up the app. If it is, you’ll see a yellow clock icon with a ‘3’ on it.
To shoot video, tap the video camera icon to the right of the shutter button, and when you’re ready to record, tap the little red icon in the middle of the screen.
Samsung Galaxy Watch 6
The latest Galaxy Watch brings a bigger screen, faster processing and more in-depth fitness and health tracking than before.
What phones is Camera Controller compatible with?
Since its launch in the Galaxy Store for older models, the Camera Controller app has only worked with the premium Samsung flagship models, which is effectively any of the Galaxy S-series models from the Galaxy S10 series onwards, Galaxy Note 9 and 10 models, plus any Galaxy Z Fold or Galaxy Z Flip from the first generation until the newest Galaxy Z Fold 5 and Galaxy Z Flip 5.