10 hidden tricks to try on your Android phone
Be the master of your Google-powered device.
1. Cast your Android screen
For a
number of years, you’ve been able to broadcast your Android phone or tablet’s
display to the larger screen of a television using a Chromecast. In addition to
beaming video from all the usual movie and TV apps, this
streaming device can mirror your phone. Take advantage of a mirroring shortcut
in the Quick Settings pane, which you access by dragging down from the top of
the screen with two fingers. You should find a Cast option
in this menu.
If it doesn’t show up, there’s another way to
set up mirroring. First, check to make sure you’ve installed the Google Home app for Android. You probably
already used this program to set up your Chromecast. Open the app, tap Cast screen/audio from its menu, and
then choose your Chromecast. Your device’s display should appear on the big
screen.
2. Run apps side-by-side
Split screen
Multitask like a pro using two apps
side-by-side.
One of the new
features added in Android 7.0 Nougat is the option to run apps side-by-side or
one above the other. This view comes in handy when you want to display photos,
optimize your social networking, or multitask, although it’s a bit too laggy
for gaming.
To set it up,
tap the Overview button (the square icon below the screen to
the left), and choose which of your recently used apps you want to see. Hold
and drag it to the top or left of the display, then choose another open app to
appear alongside or under it.
And
since we’re already talking about the Overview button, here’s a pro tip:
Double-tap rather than single-tap it to quickly switch between the two apps
you’ve been using most recently.
3. Make text and images more visible
Display
size
If
you’re struggling to see what’s on the screen—or, alternatively, if you want to
cram as much content as possible onto the display and don’t mind doing a bit of
squinting along the way—you can zoom in or out on text and objects. Not all the
apps will respond to these adjustments, but most of them will.
To change size settings, open the Android Settings app and go to the Display heading. From the Display menu,
tap the Font size link to
change the default font size. Select the Display size link to make on-screen
objects larger or smaller.
4. Change volume settings independently
Android
volume
Your device plays several different types of
audio—including ring tones, notifications, alarms, phone calls, and media. If
you’ve ever gone to the Settings menu,
opened Sounds, and tapped Volume, you’ll have seen that you can use
individual sliders to adjust these audio types individually.
However,
Android gives you a quick-and-easy shortcut. Tap the physical volume buttons on
the side of your device to make whatever’s currently playing softer or louder
(if no media is playing, this action will adjust your ringtone volume). When
you do, a small box will pop up on the screen, showing which volume setting is
changing and how. On the side of that box, you should see a small arrow. Tap
it, and the box will expand to show multiple volume sliders at once. This can
save you a trip to Settings.
5. Lock phone borrowers inside one app
Screen
pinning
What happens when you want to lend a friend or young
family member your phone, but don’t want them rooting through
your private information or posting to your social media accounts? Screen
pinning lets you be generous without giving up your privacy. Pinning one app to
the screen means that your phone will only run that app until someone enters
the lock screen code again. Essentially, the user won’t be able to access any
other parts of your phone without your code.
Screen pinning is easy to set up. Open Settings, go to the Security menu, and enable screen pinning. Once you’ve turned on
the feature, launch the app your friend needs to use. Then open Overview by
tapping the square navigation button below the phone screen. On the window for
the most recently opened app, you should see a pin icon (it looks like a little
thumbtack) in the lower right-hand corner. Tap the pin button to pin that app
to the screen.
6. Disable the lock screen at home
Smart
Lock
To keep your device safe, you need to set up a
PIN code or a fingerprint scan to unlock your phone. But this makes it more
inconvenient to access your apps. Google’s Smart Lock feature lets you remove
this obstacle, giving you instant access to your phone—but only when you’re
safely at home.
From Settings,
tap Security (or Security and
Privacy), and turn on Smart Lock. As
well as disabling the lock screen when you’re at home (that’s the trusted
places option), you can also disable the screen when your phone’s Bluetooth is
connected to a trusted device, such as your car stereo unit, or when it
recognizes a trusted voice, such as yours.
7. Tweak the status bar
System
UI Tuner
The status bar is a thin strip at the top of
the screen display that shows you notifications, your phone’s current signal
strength, and battery life, among other icons. Thanks to a hidden settings menu
called System UI Turner, you can
select exactly which icons will appear in the status bar, and tweak extra
settings for Do Not Disturb mode and notifications. However, this menu only
became available in recent versions of Android, so older phones may not allow
you to use it.
To enable it (if it’s available on your phone),
swipe down from the top of the screen with two fingers to show the Quick Settings pane. Locate the
settings gear icon in the top right, then press and hold it for a few seconds.
If you see a confirmation message, that means you’ve successfully enabled
Settings UI. When you go to the Settings menu,
you should see a new menu entry called System UI Tuner. Tap on this new entry,
then choose Status bar to
control which icons—from Bluetooth mode to battery levels—will show up in the
status bar.
8. Choose new default apps
Default
apps
One of
the differences between Android and iOS is that Google’s mobile operating
system lets you choose different default apps for web browsing, texting,
viewing photos and so on. A default app is the app that opens automatically
when you try and do something on your phone—so when you click a hyperlink, for
example, your default web browser app will open that link.
Take advantage of this flexibility by setting
up the defaults as you want them. Head to Settings,
then Apps, then tap the cog icon in the upper right corner.
Select any of the categories on screen to see a list of installed apps that can
take over default duties. For example, if you’d prefer to chat with friends via Facebook Messenger, rather than your
phone’s built-in SMS app, you can make Facebook’s product your default
messaging app.
9. Bring back lost notifications
Notification
log
It happens—you
accidentally swiped away one of the notifications that you wanted to read fully
and now you have a nagging sense someone emailed you, but are not sure. If you
want to review all of your recent notifications on Android, you’re in luck.
This ability is possible—though the option isn’t easy to find.
Tap and hold on an empty part of the home
screen, and a screen-adjusting mode will pop up. Choose Widgets, and find the Settings shortcut. Drag this icon to an
empty space on one of your home screens and drop it in place, and a list will
automatically pop up. Choose Notification
log from the list and tap the icon to open up Android’s notification
history.
10. Activate one-handed mode
One-handed mode
This keyboard tweak makes your phone easier to
use one-handed.
As today’s phones continue
to grow in size, they become harder and harder to operate
one-handed. So Google’s custom keyboard, which is the default option
on certain Android phones, has a solution: A special one-handed mode that you
can switch to with a simple shortcut. If you own a Pixel or Nexus device, this
keyboard will be your default typing option. If you’re on a Samsung or LG
phone, you’ll have to first download
Google’s version and set it as your default keyboard (as
demonstrated in tip 8).
Open up the
keyboard as normal and tap and hold on the comma key. Drag up to the right-hand
icon to enable one-handed mode. The arrow lets you switch this smaller keyboard
from side to side, the bottom icon lets you reposition it, and the top icon
restores the full-size keyboard. Other phone keyboards may also have one-handed
modes, but they can be harder to access than Google’s. Try looking up your
phone model and searching “one-handed keyboard” to learn more.