Mastering Android tricks and hacks can significantly enhance your smartphone experience, allowing you to unlock its full potential. Whether it is increasing the device's performance or altering its features, these tips give you the freedom to make your device more effective and unique. If you want to increase productivity, see more unexplored features, or even have fun doing something new, these techniques will change how you use your mobile phone. Stay curious, seek new unknown features of your Android, and use it to the fullest.
Technology is changing faster than ever, as are the opportunities and advantages – just try and discover. With a little creativity and know-how, your Android is much more capable than you thought, and each engagement will be much more convenient and fun.
1. Use Digital Wellbeing Features
Staying up late chatting and doomscrolling is not the healthiest thing ever. Google's Digital Wellbeing project includes Android's Bedtime mode. It not only turns off your phone at a certain time but also turns the screen to grayscale in case you need to check it after hours.
In addition, you can switch to the Dark Theme while in bedtime mode or simply turn off your phone's screen entirely to get some rest. If you need extra time before retiring, you can choose to Pause from the dropdown menu. Focus mode is another suggested Wellbeing feature that turns off the alerts of distracting apps for a set period.
2. Customize Message Notifications
You can customize Android's message notifications to make certain contacts stand out and keep conversations together. Now, you can configure messages to appear as bubbles on top of other running apps. All you have to do is enable them in Settings and make the contact priority.
Another setting for Bubbles may be found within a notification, making locating and replying to chats easier. These can also be customized in terms of priority. Make it so that your device tells you of a certain Bubble chat, even if Do Not Disturb is turned on; set it to notify you as usual or silent.
3. Set Up Guest Access
This is also among Android tricks and hacks. Navigate to Settings > System > Advanced > Multiple Users and activate it to allow someone to borrow your phone without having access to your data, apps, settings, or the ability to send text messages. The Add Users from Lock Screen slider is an optional feature. Quick Settings may now be accessed by swiping down twice from the top of your phone.
Select Add Guest by tapping your user symbol in the bottom right corner. It takes a short bit for the phone to enter the mode, which permits online surfing, mapping, and phone calls but deletes personal accounts (including email). The only Android apps that appear are the default ones, so you don't have to be concerned about your guest tweeting or posting on Facebook.
4. Add Widgets
Apple iOS was a little late adding widgets to its home screen, but Android users have been doing so for a long time. To do it, Long-press on the home screen, select Widgets, and then choose from the options provided by any installed apps. You can also access additional customization options by long-pressing on the Home screen. These include removing the Google feed page off the left side of the screen and turning off screen rotation because viewing your home screen in landscape mode is cool.
5. Edit Quick Settings
Android's Quick Settings need two swipes to display more than one row; even once you do that, you get two pages. It’s among Android tricks and hacks. Fortunately, you can alter the tiles shown so that the initial swipe-down row contains the required options. Select the desired tiles by clicking the pencil icon, then drag them to the upper part. You can include practical features like camera access, screen recording, scanning QR codes, focus and dark mode settings, and more.
6. Use Third-Party Launchers to Customize Your Phone
Every Android phone has a default launcher that may be customized to different levels. Some phones, such as Google Pixels, have limited customization possibilities, but Nubia has a stunning number. If dissatisfied with your default launcher, you can install and use a third-party one.
There are tons of third-party app launchers available in the Play Store that let you customize your Android phone. A great option for those seeking simplicity is the Niagara launcher. If you enjoy theming, you should use Hyperion Launcher. A classic Nova launcher is always a good choice.
7. Change Each App's Language
Android users have always had the option to switch their phone's display language to their native tongue. With the Android 13 upgrade, Google went one step further, letting users switch the display language for individual apps. This implies you can switch some apps to your local language while keeping the phone's user interface in English.
For those who speak more than one language, this function is innovative. Go to System > Languages & Input > App Languages in the Settings app to modify an app's language. The App Languages option appears only when you add more than one language to your device. Your favorite app may not support your local language immediately because app developers need to enable this option.
8. Silence App Notifications
Although Android manages and displays alerts better than the iPhone, too many entries still overload the notification panel. The primary culprits are apps that constantly send you pointless notifications, like gaming apps. You can disable these alerts for individual apps on Android. You may use the notification panel to stop app notifications by long-pressing a notification to bring up the notification management settings.
After that, turn off or silence alerts. To control notifications for every app, navigate to Settings > Notifications > App Settings. With Android's notification channels feature, you can also control the types of alerts that an app can deliver. You may turn off marketing and promotion alerts with notification channels while still receiving important alerts, such as order updates.
9. Use ‘Find My Device' to Locate Your Lost Device
If your Android device is lost, you can use the Find My Device function to locate it as long as you are logged in with your Google account. This feature not only helps you locate your smartphone but also allows you to ring it, even if it is in silent mode. You can use it to locate your lost smartphone in your house.
The Find My Smartphone function also allows you to lock your smartphone, log out of all apps, and remove its contents. It guarantees that your data won't end up in the wrong hands. Open your settings app, go to Security, click ‘find my device,' and turn it on. When you lose your device, use a web browser to access the Find My Device website and sign in using your Google account. After that, ring your phone, delete its contents, and protect it using the Google Find My Device website.
10. Configure Your Lock Screen
This is among Android tricks and hacks. Every Android phone has a different type of safe lock screen. Most phones will encourage you to do this throughout the setup process, and you should. The default options are pattern, PIN, and password. Most devices now include fingerprint security, which is likely the quickest way to unlock your device.
Go to System Settings and locate the Security menu to control your lock screen. On other phones, the lock screen menu is separate. Your lock screen must be safe for features like factory reset protection and Google Pay to work. On most phones, you can also change the clock design and lock screen layout by long-pressing any area of the screen.
11. Uninstall/Disable Bloatware
Most phones include certain pre-installed apps you won't need. Fortunately, they can be handled now. Some pre-installed bloat can be deleted using the Play Store or from the app's settings menu. However, anything included in the system image cannot be removed.
To disable it, locate the app in your list and enter the app menu from the main system settings. There will be a button that says “Disable.” Tapping stops the app from running in the background and removes it from your app drawer. It will not save extra data but will still use up some storage space.
12. Back Up Photos Automatically
Nothing is worse than damaging or losing your phone and then realizing that you have also lost your digital memories. To prevent this, use the Google Photos app and enable auto-backup by following the instructions. Although “original quality” is the default setting, you can choose “high quality,” which significantly reduces the size of your images to conserve storage space. You receive 15GB for free, which should be sufficient for infrequent photographers who don't shoot a lot of footage and don't save a lot of data on their drives. The 15GB of account-level storage will be exhausted if you shoot a lot, but Google will gladly sell you extra.
13. Control Ad Targeting
Google is still an advertising corporation that operates under Android, Chrome, and Workspace. It recently released the Topics API for ad targeting, which should be less intrusive than cookies. It is certainly easier to manage. To access your Ad Privacy options, navigate to the Google submenu in the system settings.
Google generates the topic list based on your activities, however you can delete any unwanted ad themes. There is also a setting that prevents apps from proposing subjects. You can even prevent marketers from tracking the effectiveness of your adverts. Third-party marketers can opt out of this scheme, but Google's products will almost certainly continue to use it.
14. Notification History
Android makes it so easy to manage your notifications that you may mistakenly swipe anything away. This feature is among the most popular Android tricks and hacks. You can always determine the item's state if you have enabled notification history. This functionality is turned off by default for privacy reasons. You should be able to activate this function from the Notifications settings menu if your device has a lock screen feature. To view recently disregarded alerts, just navigate to that menu anytime. Note that only Android 11 and later versions support this feature.
15. Switch to Dark Theme
A lot of apps feature bright white designs. A main-wide dark theme can transform those apps and sections of the system UI into a lovely, subdued black. You may find it in the quick settings or, more simply, the display settings. Additionally, the dark theme can be scheduled to turn on automatically each night and off in the morning. Apps created in compliance with the most recent theme APIs are the only ones that will function, and they are surprisingly many these days.
16. Extra Dim Mode
Over time, smartphone screens have become exceedingly bright, with high-end phones reaching thousands of nits. Low brightness has gotten little attention. Android's Extra Dim feature solves the problem of many phones being too bright to operate comfortably in a dark environment.
This toggle is located in both the quick settings list and the accessibility settings. When it is turned on, it gradually reduces the brightness of your screen until it is turned off. Additionally, you can adjust the intensity of the dimming effect in the settings.
17. Relax With the ‘Do Not Disturb' Feature
Do you have trouble sleeping at night because your phone buzzes? Many users would manually turn their phones back to vibrate or silent mode when they went to sleep and back again when they woke up. However, there is a stronger way to deal with this routine deception.
Android offers a useful Do Not Disturb option to configure to activate on your schedule. Applications that can notify you during this time and contacts of persons who can get around your DND settings can be added. Once you have set the settings, you can put your phone away daily and sleep soundly without interruptions.
18. Multitask With Split Screen
Although split-screen multitasking has been available on Android for years, very few people know or use it. It's a strong feature enables you to benefit from the constantly growing phone displays. It’s among Android tricks and hacks. Open the Recent Applications screen using the navigation button or screen gesture, hit the app icon, and then select the split screen option to test split-screen multitasking. Next, select the second application you wish to use in split- screen mode.
19. Use Google's Nearby Share
Nearby Share is Android's AirDrop alternative, and the app has seen major improvements in recent months. Nearby Share allows you to seamlessly share photographs, movies, files, URLs, and Wi-Fi passwords across Android and Chromebooks.
With Google's recent release of Nearby transfer for Windows, you may transfer data between a Windows computer and an Android phone. Therefore, the next time you need to send a file to a friend who lives nearby, don't waste your time uploading it to a cloud service so they may get it. Simply using Nearby Share, you may quickly move any file, no matter how big or tiny.
20. Use the Link to Windows Feature
Consider using Link to Windows if you frequently use a Windows PC. You can use the Phone Link app on Windows to access several of your phone's functions from your PC. You will use your phone less but accomplish more as a result. Once installed, you can receive phone notifications on your PC, conveniently copy files, and perform other tasks. You can even operate apps on your phone from your PC. And all of this is done by simply remaining connected to the same Wi-Fi network.
21. Encrypt Your Phone's Data
Even if your phone doesn't contain much private information, protecting your data is still a smart idea. Encrypting your data is among Android tricks and hacks. You may manually encrypt your phone, rendering it unreadable by unauthorized individuals who do not have a PIN or password to unlock it.
Turning it on is extremely easy: Navigate to Settings, Security, and then select Encrypt Phone. If your phone wasn't already encrypted, it may take some time to enable, and if you're using an older version of Android, it might even slow down your phone. Nevertheless, if you want to safeguard the data on your phone, this is a crucial step.
22. Enable One-Handed Mode
The size of some Android phones might be very awkward, depending on the model. Fortunately, most Android phones provide a fast shortcut that allows you to switch to the special one-handed mode. If you do not have a Google keyboard, you must purchase one. If you use a Pixel or Nexus phone, it will probably be your default setting already.
However, if you use a Samsung or LG phone, you must download the keyboard to start. After downloading the keyboard, launch it and press and hold the backslash key. One-handed mode can be activated by pulling up to the right-hand icon. This will have an arrow that allows you to move the keyboard around and adjust its position.
23. Lock People Out of Certain Apps
Last on our list of Android tricks and hacks is this privacy feature. We've all been in a situation where someone wanted to use our phone, and we frantically tried to conceal information and images we didn't want others to view. With a few button presses, you can hide this on Android phones so that anybody you lend your phone to for a short while can only access one area until you enter the lock screen code.
In this manner, they cannot access some portions of your phone until you enter the code again. Select Security from the Settings menu, then enable Screen Pinning. When enabled, launch the app that your friend wants to use. Click the square button beneath the phone screen to open Overview. A pin-like icon will appear in the lower right corner. It will stay pinned to the front if you tap it. And voila! Anyone can only use that until they enter the password.
Conclusion
Unlock the full potential of your Android device with these expert tricks and hacks. Boost performance, customize your interface, and discover hidden features. Take control of your smartphone and experience the power of Android like never before with these insider secrets and techniques.
