All the recent LG Smartphones have got an additional Google Assistant key. LG K40 was the first model to get this extra key. This way you can do any task with a voice command. We can also disable this Google Assistant Button if not in use.
In this post, we are going to check all the hardware and software buttons present on LG K40.
Let’s check out the K40 button layout with the help of the below video and screenshots –
LG K40 Buttons
1. LG K40 Button Layout
Where is the Power Button on LG K40?
Since long back LG is offering smartphones with the power button on the back. LG K30 also had it on the back. The power button on the LG K30 doubled as a Fingerprint Sensor.
On K40 we have the Power button on the right. This is a welcome change. The power key on the back gets sticky over time. On my Aristo 2, a power button click is registered in multiple tries. It gets quite frustrating.
The volume rocker is on the left. Below the volume rocker, an extra button is added to K40. It’s a dedicated Google Assistant key.
2. LG K40 Power Button
The Power Button on LG K40 is useful in more ways than one. We can do a multitude of things using the power key. Let’s check out our options –
a. Power on/off, Restart, Sleep, Airplane Mode
The basic function of the K40 power button is to switch the phone on and off.
Long-Press the power button, located on the right to switch on your K40.
While the phone is on, a single press on the power button puts the phone to sleep and vice versa.
A long-press would bring multiple options such as Power off, Power off and restart, Turn on/off Airplane mode.
b. Factory Reset Buttons / Recovery Mode (Volume Down + Power Button)
With K40 in the off position, a combination of the Volume Down & Power button brings us to the recovery mode. The recovery mode is used to Hard Reset the phone.
Learn how to Hard reset your K40 via the Recovery Mode –
c. Launch Camera with the Power Button
We can set the power button as a shortcut key to launch the camera with a double-click.
Open “Settings” and choose the “General” tab. Now scroll down and tap the “Shortcuts” option.
We are now on the “Shortcuts” page.
Turn on the option “Open Camera” located under “Power”.
Now hit the power key twice to launch the camera.
d. End call with the Power Key
The power button can also be used to end a call.
To enable this feature, go to Settings > General > Accessibility
Select the first option on the Accessibility page i.e. ” Vision”.
Now scroll down to the bottom of this page and turn on “End call with the Power key”.
e. Safe Mode
The power button also aids in turning on the safe mode.
When your K40 is on, long-press the power key.
Now, long-press the first option i.e. Power off.
This brings up the Safe mode window. Tap TURN ON to boot into safe mode.
To learn how to use and turn off safe mode, head over to the below post
f. Force Restart (Volume Down + Power)
When frozen, you can bring back your K40 to life with a force restart.
Keep holding the power key and volume down key for 10 seconds or until the phone reboots.
Please refer to the above screenshot.
3. LG K40 Volume Button / Volume Control
a. Volume Control
Like the Power Button, volume keys on K40 can do much more than controlling the phone volume.
Let’s see what more we can do with the volume keys –
b. Download Mode (Volume Down)
Using the volume up button we can boot our k40 into the download mode.
The download mode is to flash a stock firmware via the LGUP flash tool.
Using the Download Mode you can upgrade, downgrade your android firmware. It can also be used to unbrick your dead phone –
LG K40 Firmware Download & Update
c. Firmware Update Stuck
Is your K40 stuck on the firmware update screen?
The volume down key can get your phone out of this mode –
Learn how to do that using the below post –
d. Launch Camera (Volume Down)
Is your K40 screen locked and you need the camera right away?
You can do so using the volume down button.
To enable this setting, please go to
Settings > General > Shortcuts
Enable the “Open Camera” option under “VOLUME”.
Now with the screen locked or off, double-click the volume down key.
This action would launch the camera. Click the volume down button one more time to capture a photo.
e. Launch Capture+ (Volume Up)
Like Camera, we can launch Capture+ with a double-tap on the Volume Up button.
This would work when the screen is off or locked.
Refer to the above screenshot to enable “Open Capture+”.
f. Silence / Answer an incoming call (Volume Up)
We can answer or silence and incoming call using the volume up button on K40.
To turn on this setting. Go to Settings > General > Call.
Now tap, “Answer and end calls”.
Select the first option ” Press the volume up key to”.
Choose whether you wish to Answer or Silence a call using the volume up button.
g. Talkback Shortcut (Volume Up + Volume Down)
If you’ve accidentally turned on talkback on your K40, you can turn it off using the volume keys.
Open Settings > General > Accessibility
Now go to Vision < Talkback and tap it for more settings.
By default, the “Talkback shortcut” option is enabled.
You turn on/off talkback by holding both the volume keys for 3 seconds.
3. LG K40 Extra Button / Google Assistant Button
There is an additional extra button on the LG K40 below the volume rocker.
This is the dedicated Google Assistant key.
Long-press on the home button also brings the Google assistant app. The older method also works. Long-press the home button to launch Google Assistant.
As the name suggests, it assists you in doing tasks using voice commands.
Turn off Google Assistant on LG K40
If you are accidentally pressing the Google assistant button, & it’s not of much use, you can disable it.
Open the settings app and go to General > Shortcuts.
Now turn off the last 3 options on this shortcuts page as shown above. This disables the Google Assistant Button.
4. LG K40 Home, Back, Menu & Qslide Button
Check out the below video to learn how to use and customize the home touch buttons on LG K40
The home touch buttons can also be used to launch a mini-view for one-handed operation. The below video shows how to turn on and use mini-view on K40 –
5. LG K40 WPS Button
Look at the above screenshots.
The left one belongs to my LG Stylo 3 Plus running on Android Nougat 7.0
Stylo 3 Plus has the “Connect by WPS button” option on the Advanced Wifi page.
Since Android Oreo, this WPS button option is removed from the Advanced Wifi page.
The screenshot on the right belongs to LG K40. I’m on the advanced Wifi page and there is no option related to WPS. I couldn’t find the WPS button anywhere on the phone.
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