The fastest way to adjust or control Galaxy Buds Live is to use touch control. You can pause, resume or skip music tracks by using the touch control on Galaxy Buds Live. You may also use touch control on Galaxy Buds Live to answer or reject calls.
This Galaxy Buds Live guide explains how to use touch control on Galaxy Buds Live to control music playing, answer or reject calls, and how to adjust the volume or customize the long tap gesture for the touch control on Galaxy Buds Live.
The touch control on Galaxy Buds Live is slightly different from that on Galaxy Buds and Galaxy Buds +, this guide applies to Galaxy Buds Live only.
What is the touch control on Galaxy Buds Live?
As explained in the layout of Galaxy Buds Live, there is a touch-responsive area (i.e., touch panel) on each bud.
You can use different gestures in this area to control the media, answer or reject calls, and adjust settings for Galaxy Buds Live.
The location of the touch panel is around the top microphone, as illustrated in the picture below.
Galaxy Buds Live accepts single tap, double-tap, triple tap, and long-tap (tap and hold) gestures.
Because two buds (L and R) of Galaxy Buds Live can work alone, the gestures are always identical on both buds. Only the function (action) of the long-tap gesture can be customized.
Of course, you can disable touch control on Galaxy Buds Live (block touches) if you often accidentally touch the area.
Please note, touch control on Galaxy Buds Live (and other Galaxy Buds devices) is similar to that on AirPods and AirPods 2. But it is substantially different from the Force Sensor on AirPods Pro, or AirPods 3
How to use touch control on Galaxy Buds Live?
The functions (actions) of the 4 gestures are different depending on whether you are playing media or you are on a call.
By default, you only need to apply the gesture on one of the buds. The exception is the long-tap gesture, which may require you to apply it on both buds for some special functions.
Single tap
The single tap gesture means you tap the touch area once.
The single tap gesture lets you pause (if currently playing) or resume (if currently paused) the music.
If you use the buds to read the messages and notifications, you can use the single tap gesture to stop the reading (text-to-speech).
Please note, unlike some other wireless earbuds, you cannot pick up (answer) a call using the single tap gesture. You need to use the double-tap gesture instead.
Double-tap
The double-tap gesture requires you to tap the touch area twice (2 times) quickly. The delay between the two taps should be less than 1 second.
You can tap the touch panel twice quickly to play the next track when you are playing music.
If the phone rings (media play should pause automatically if you were playing music), you can use the double-tap gesture to pick up (answer) the call. When you are on a call, you can end the call with the same gesture.
If you are on a call, and the second call comes in, you can use the double-tap gesture to accept the second call and place the first call on hold. Of course, this works only if both your carrier and the phone support call holding (waiting).
You can also use this gesture (double-tap) to switch between the current call and the held call if there is a held call.
Triple tap
The triple-tap gesture only controls media playing. You must tap the touch area three times quickly.
You can tap the control panel 3 times quickly to reverse back to the beginning of the current track if the current track has been played for more than 3 seconds.
If you just start the current track, then it will reverse back to the previous track.
So, you may need to tap the touch area 6 times to play the previous track.
Long tap (tap and hold)
Long tap, aka tap and hold, requires you to hold the touch area without releasing it for more than 3 seconds (or until the buds respond with actions).
By default, you can tap and hold the touch area to turn on or off active noise canceling. In this case, you just need to apply the gesture to one of the buds.
You can customize the function (action) for the long tap gesture to volume control or Bixby voice commands (read on).
Another function of this gesture is to pair Galaxy Buds Live with a new device. You need to press and hold the touch area on both buds to force Galaxy Buds Live into the pairing mode.
How to customize the tap and hold (long tap) gesture for touch control on Galaxy Buds Live?
The only gesture you can customize is the long tap (tap and hold) gesture.
You can only customize the long tap gesture for touch control on Galaxy Buds Live in the Galaxy Wearable app (for Android) or Galaxy Buds (for iOS). You may check this guide to learn more features and customizations in Galaxy Wearable app.
As shown in the screenshot below, in the Galaxy Wearable app, tap Touch controls.
In the touch control settings page, as shown above, you can learn to use each gesture.
You can also block touches. It will disable touch control on Galaxy Buds Live.
To customize the function of the long tap gesture (tap and hold), you can customize them individually for each bud.
For example, tap Left, as shown above, to customize the long tap gesture for the left bud.
You can assign the function of the tap and hold gesture as:
- Active noise canceling.
- Voice command.
- Volume down (for the left; volume up for the right).
- Spotify.
You can choose them individually for each bud, except for the volume control.
As shown in the screenshot above, for example, you can set Voice command (Bixby) for the left buds, and keep active noise cancelling for the right bud.
As mentioned, if you choose volume down for the left bud, then the right bud will be set as volume up automatically, as shown below. You cannot use volume up or volume down only. They must be used together.
How to disable touch control on Galaxy Buds Live?
The touch area of the Galaxy Buds Live is relatively sensitive. So, a few owners may find the touch control on Galaxy Buds Live is a bit annoying because they tend to touch the area inadvertently.
As shown earlier, you can disable touch control on Galaxy Buds Live on the touch control settings page by enabling Block touches.
You can also use Galaxy Buds Live widget to enable block touches from the Home screen of your Android phones (without opening the Galaxy Wearable app).
Do you have any questions on using the touch control on Galaxy Buds Live?
If you have any questions or need help on touch control on Galaxy Buds Live, you may let us know in the comment box below.
The community will help you.
You may check Headphone 101 for detailed explanations of headphone technologies and terms.
For Bluetooth headphone guides, please check the Bluetooth headphones section.
The sports headphones section is dedicated to guides on sports headphones.
Active noise-canceling headphone guides can be found in the Noise-canceling headphones section.
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Enjoy your Galaxy Buds Live!
Leon Grigor
If touch control is disabled on Galaxy Buds Live, how do I answer a phone call ?
simon
It does not entirely disable touches. Single tap, tap and hold, are disabled.
Instead, you can still use the double-tap and triple-tap gestures for calls and volume controls (on Samsung phones for some Galaxy Buds). When the phone rings, you can double-tap to pick up the call.
When you are playing music, you cannot use double tap or triple-tap to control the playing. Instead, it will be used to adjust volume (if you set tap and hold for volume controls) on some Galaxy Buds models.
Anyway, when the phone rings, the double-tap is always available.