Go hands-free with these selfie tips

Tired of phone fumbling or awkward selfie sticks? No problem. Here are some quick and easy ways to snap hands-free selfies, so you can keep your focus on striking a pose.

Note: Instructions and settings may vary by manufacturer and model.

For a super speedy selfie, try Palm Gesture, which is automatically enabled on Samsung devices. Simply raise your palm to the camera (make sure it’s in selfie-mode), which will trigger a three-second countdown timer before taking a pic. On a Pixel? You can set up a palm timer by opening the settings in your camera app, tapping “More settings,” then “Palm timer,” and selecting “Always on.”

Prefer the old-school way? Set a self-timer on Samsung devices by tapping the clock icon at the top of the camera screen, or by going to your Pixel camera settings.

You can also ask your device’s assistant to take a pic: On Samsungs, press and hold the Side button to open Bixby, then say “Take a picture” to start a three-second timer. On Pixels, press and hold the Power button to launch Google Assistant, then say “Take a selfie with a countdown” to open the camera app and set a three-second self-timer.

If you have a foldable, you can take self-portraits even more easily by propping up your device in tent or tabletop mode.

You can take a photo on a Samsung device by simply opening your camera app and saying “Smile,” “Cheese,” “Capture,” or “Shoot.” To enable these voice commands, go to your camera’s Shooting methods settings. Want to take a video? Just select video mode, then say “record video” to start filming.

If you have a smartwatch that’s connected to your Pixel phone, you can use it to control your phone’s camera: Just open the Google Camera app on your watch to automatically launch it on your phone. You can then zoom in and out using the slider on your watch, or tap the circle to start a 3-second camera timer on your phone.