Samsung Galaxy S4: How to Enable and Use Interaction Control in Android 4.4 Kitkat

Interaction control is a new feature that has been brought by Android 4.4 Kitkat. You can find this feature under the accessibility menu. Turning on this feature will allow you to enable or disable all-enabled-motions and screen timeout as well as allow you to block certain or all areas of the screen from touch interaction in the currently opened app. While you're using this feature, all physical buttons (Home, Menu, Back, Volume and Power button), auto rotate and touch interaction in the notifications panel will be disabled.


How to enable or disable interaction control?
Generally, there are 2 methods available that you can use to enable or disable this feature, from the Settings menu and from the device option.

Method #1: From the Settings menu

1. In any screen, swipe down the top of the screen to open the notifications panel and then tap the Settings icon to go to the settings menu.
2. Tap My device tab.
3. Scroll down to find Accessibility, then tap it.
4. Scroll to the very bottom to find Interaction control, then tap the ON/OFF switch to enable or disable this option. When the switch is on the right side or shows green means the option is enabled.

Method #2: From the device options
You can use this method if you have added the accessibility shortcut to the device option. If you don't know how to do so, you can see the complete steps here. To enable or disable interaction control through the device menu, do as follows:

1. In any screen, long press the Power key.
2. On pop up menu select Accessibility.
3. Scroll to the very bottom to find Interaction control, then tap the ON/OFF switch to enable or disable this option. When the switch is on the right side or shows green means the option is enabled.

How to use interaction control?
Once the interaction control is activated, then you can use this feature in the app that is currently open. As the example, I'll use this feature in the Kids Preschool Puzzle Lite app (this is my son's favourite game):

1. In the Kids Preschool app or other app that is currently open, press the Home key and the Volume down key simultaneously to use and change the setting of the interaction control in this app.
2. In the interaction screen, outline a part of the screen to block from touch interaction and then adjust the blue frame to adjust the blocked areas or mark the checkbox in the left side of the Block whole screen option to block the whole screen.
3. Tap Next button.
4. Here you'll see two options available, they are:
• Screen timeout: enable this option to lock the device automatically after your set time. Disable this option will make your phone never locks the device. If you enable this option, you still can use the Power key to wake up the screen.
• Motions: enable this option to allow you using all motions you've enabled under the motions and gestures menu in unblocked screen. Disable this option will prevent you to use all enabled motions while this feature is used.
5. Tap Done button.
6. You'll see the blue frame is displayed as a sign that the area is blocked. If you didn't block the whole screen, you still can do touch interaction in the unblocked screen.
7. To exit from this mode, tap the Home key and the Volume down key simultaneously.

I personally often use this feature when my 4-years-old son use my phone to play a game. This feature helps me to prevent him touching certain area in the screen and prevent him exiting the game accidentally and then using my phone for unwanted activities (e.g: make a call, send a message, etc). So, how about you? Have you tried this feature?