Samsung Galaxy S4: How to Enable and Use Cover to Mute/Pause in Android 4.4 Kitkat

Samsung has provided some motion features to their users in order to help them controlling and interacting with their phone easier and faster. One of the motion features available is the turn over to mute/pause that you can use to mute incoming calls, alarms and to pause media playback by turning over the phone so that the screen will face downward.

See also: How to Enable and Use Turn Over to Mute/Pause in the Samsung Galaxy S4 with Android 4.4 Kitkat

If you notice, there's also a motion called cover to mute/pause that has the similar function with turn over to mute/pause. You can use both of them to mute incoming calls and alarms as well as to pause the media playback. The difference is turn over to mute/pause works when you turn the device over, while cover to mute/pause works when you cover the screen with your palm. Since this option is not enabled by default, then you have to enable it first if you want to use it on your phone.

How to enable or disable cover to mute/pause feature?
Below are the steps to do so:

1. Go to Settings.
2. Tap My device tab.
3. Scroll down to find Motions and gestures, and then tap it.
4. Swipe the ON/OFF switch next to Palm motion to the right to enable this option.
5. Tap Palm motion.
6. Depending on your current settings, tap the ON/OFF switch next to Mute/Pause to enable or disable this option. When the switch is on the right side or turns green means this option is enabled. When this option is enabled, you can tap this option and then tap Try it button to try this feature on the short tutorial given by this phone.

How to use cover to mute/pause feature?
Generally you can use this feature to mute sound or pause the playback without putting the phone into the silent mode. Here's the example:

1. Muting the sound
   While your phone is playing sound for an incoming call or an alarm, cover the screen using your palm to mute the sound.
2. Pausing the media playback
   While your phone is playing video or music, on any screen, cover the screen using your palm to pause the playback. FYI, this function also works while the video is being viewed in the pop up window.

Please note that you can't use this feature to pause media playback if the screen is off or while you're using headsets. I personally prefer to use cover to mute/pause to mute sound or to pause playback than turn over to mute/pause, because this motion is simpler to be used. So, how about you? Which mute/pause motion do you like best?