13 Useful Android Tips And Tricks You Should Know

 

1) Enable Developer Mode

 This is one of the more widely known tricks, but it’s important  nonetheless, so we are going to include it.

 

2) Change the Animation Scales

For the most part, the latest Android phones already feel very snappy. However, after the latest Nexus 5X only shipped with 2GB of RAM, some users were left feeling a bit underwhelmed by Google’s hugely popular product line. 

There are also lots of popular entry-level phones that come with slower processors and only 1GB or 2GB of RAM

3) Disable App Notifications

Bugged by annoying app notifications that just keep coming? If you don’t know already, these app notifications also drain your phone’s battery. If you want to turn them off, and you are on Jelly Bean 4.1 and above, here’s how:

1. On any of your unwanted notifications in your notification bar, long press on the notification for a message box to appear.
2. Tap on App Info > Untick Show Notifications > OK.

 

 

4) Disable Mobile Data

Whenever you don’t need to stay connected, disabling the Mobile Data can help keep your smartphone battery from draining too quickly. Turning off mobile data is as easy as:

1. Going to Settings > Data Usage.
2. Disable Mobile data by toggling the setting from ON to OFF.

 

 

5) Set Mobile Data Limit

Want to keep track of how far your usage is from your monthly mobile data limit? If you have ICS and above, there is a feature which lets you keep track of how much of the quota you have left.

1. Head over to Settings > Data Usage.
2. Set your data limit by dragging the orange line to reflect your monthly quota.
3. Set your data usage cycle based on when your “month” starts and ends, and you’re done.

You will be alerted once you hit the limit you have set. Note that the tracked data usage of your phone may vary slightly than your carrier’s tracking.

6) Manage App Notifications

Moving on one step further from the previous tip, after you’ve long-pressed the app you’ll see an information icon. Press it, and you’ll be presented with the notification settings for the app in question.

You can do things like block all its notifications, allow it to override priority mode, and make it hide private information.

7) Smart Lock

Smart lock is super useful. It removes the need to use a keypad lock when you’re at home or in another “trusted” environment.

8) Screen Pinning

If you have kids using your phone regularly, this is a great way to make sure they don’t accident run up huge bills or set their eyes on content that is age-inappropriate.
Firstly, you’ll need to enable the feature (oddly, it is turned off by default). Do that by going to Settings > Security and scrolling down to Screen pinning.
To pin a screen, open the app, press the Overview button (the square) and then the pin icon.
You can choose to PIN-protect the pinned screen, if you so wish.

9) Add Multiple Google Accounts

You need a Google account to use an Android phone but did you know you can choose to run more than one Google account on your Android device. This is convenient if you use more than one account for several of your Google services. To add multiple Google accounts:

1. Go to Settings > Add account.
2. Select Google and setup your New or Existing Google account.
3. Once added, choose what you want to sync with the account.

Repeat all the steps above if you want to add more accounts.

 

 

10) Disable automatic App Updates

Prefer to read through app permissions and manually pick which app updates to adopt? You can, but first you need to disable your automatic app updates. Here are the steps:

1. Open Play Store and head over to Settings.
2. Tap on Auto-update apps.
3. Choose Do not auto-update apps.

If you want to enable the auto updates, follow the same path and choose Auto-update apps at any time or via Wi-Fi (available for certain Android devices only).To update your apps manually, just open Play Store, and on the main page swipe in from the left and tap on My apps. You can tap on apps with pending updates and update them manually, or if you like to update them all at once, just tap on Update All.

11) Disable Animations

Here’s a tip on how to make your Android device run a bit smoother: disable its animations. You will need to have access to Developer Options which can be found under Settings or About device.
Note: For some phones, you may need to go to Build number and tap on it repeatedly until you see “You are now a developer!”. Developer options are now enabled.
Under enabled Developer options, look for Window animation scale, Transition animation scale, and Animator duration scale. Then, turn them off (disable) them one at a time.

 

12) How to Turn Off Auto-Correction

Hate the fact that your phone is going English teacher mode on you? Turn off auto-correction for peace of mind when texting.

1. Go to Settings > Language & input.
2. Tap on the settings icon next to the keyboard that you are using, e.g. Google Keyboard.
3. Look for Auto-correction and tap on it.
4. Select Off to turn auto-correction off.
   

   13) Organize Home screen Shortcuts With Folders

   
   1. Once you have a lot of apps installed, your home screen might be filled with app shortcuts. Unlike the app drawer, the apps on your home screen are not arranged alphabetically. So, you might want to create some folders for your home screen shortcuts.
   2.Assuming you have more than a handful of shortcuts already on your home screen, long press on any of the shortcuts and drag it onto another shortcut. 3. circle should now appear around the apps, indicating that a folder has been created.
   4.By tapping on the newly created folder, a mini window will pop up with your apps in it.,br>

You can drag and drop additional apps into the folder if you like. You can also rename the folder by tapping on the text area at the bottom of the mini window.