Our Android devices usually have Settings on them which are actually more or less the holy grail when it comes to using phones. You might have even found the method of launching Settings on newer phones like Google Nexus or Pixel or Samsung Galaxy S lot weird, which actually involves swiping from the edge or pressing buttons situated on the body of a phone.
However we don’t usually realize that Settings is nothing but just another app on our devices. So the icon of Settings or its location or the way to launch it might change depending on your phone you choose, but usually it would be shaped like a gear. You might find it on the home screen, and if not there, you would surely be able to find it in the App Drawer of your phone.
App Drawer usually sits right on top of your home button in form of a circle with lots of dots inside. It will be colored either black or white with white dots or black dots respectively. Once you click on the App Drawer, all the applications you have on your phone will open in a menu. These would be arranged here alphabetically, which means you can look out for Settings at the end usually. Most new phones also have the option to search on the top of the menu opened, so feel free to search Settings up there.
Once you have opened your Settings, you can try out the hacks we have listed below to change or set up new features to make your phone work in a more slick manner –
Font Size, Wallpapers & Screensavers
In case you need to have your font look bigger (or smaller, hello snoopy friends) than it already is, you have reached the right place. Simply open up Settings, scroll on and click on Display. You can choose the Font Size setting then and set it as per your preference (newer devices usually have sample texts shown). You can increase the font size by sliding to the right and decrease it by sliding to the left.
However if you want to set a background image of your own choice on the home screen of your device, go to Settings and click on Display. Now instead of Font Size in the above example, click on Wallpaper. You may thus set whatever picture you want as your Wallpaper. You can choose from the defaults that are in built or the pictures that you have on your phone’s Gallery. You may even use an app to have a wider range of wallpapers available.
Most of us prefer a Screensaver to a simple wallpaper as it shows even when our phone is locked. Clicking on Display from the Settings menu, choose Screensaver. Now set your screensaver as a single photograph or a collection or an entire library – as per your likes and dislikes.
You may also set your device’s display brightness to high or low as per your requirement by clicking on Settings and then going to Display menu.
Filtered Notifications
You might have seen notifications displayed when your device is locked as pop up messages. These notifications can usually be accessed when the screen is swiped down from the top of the device to middle of it. In case, your phone and general activities are being bogged down by the amount of notifications you are receiving, fear not – you can always filter them through and here is how. Proceed to Settings on your device and select Notifications. You will thus find a menu containing all the apps available on your phone. Now you can personally select which apps you want to send you notifications and which ones you do not, by adding or removing apps from the list. You can even use the feature of Show Silently to have notifications only pop up and not beep to ensure you are not disturbed by not so important things.
You can even use the feature called Override Do Not Disturb to make sure that you get notifications from apps that are really important even when you have enabled Do Not Disturb. You can also make sure you do not have any notifications pop up on your locked screen by clicking on the gear shaped button present at the upper most corner of the screen in the Notifications menu under Settings.
How to Disable or Uninstall Apps
Please note that removing an app icon from the Home Screen does not mean that app is uninstalled or deleted. You may still access it in the App Drawer. So if you want to remove it completely, you have to uninstall it via Settings. Simply head to Settings and click on the option Apps from the menu. A list with the name of all the apps installed on your device will appear and you can choose whichever app you are done with from here.
You may select the app and click on Uninstall present on the top of the screen, deleting the app from your Android. However, some of the apps you can not remove what ever you may do. In such condition, you might choose these apps and disable them to ensure they do not eat into the resources. And if you have an app that is stuck or has caused what is normally known as a hanged phone, simply use Force Stop to deal with the situation as it will snap close the app without the gentle closing using task manager.
Updating to the Latest Version
A common mistake people make with their Androids is to not update them, which is extremely important to have your operating system run flawless all the time. Updates also help Android in facing any present or future security threats and it also helps you getting new features for your device. Click on Settings on your device, and select About Smartphone, which you will find in the end of the menu. You will find the first option System Upgrade. In case, your device is not up to date, an upgrade button would be there. Please remember to check for updates any time you hear about it in the market as not all systems get updated at the same time depending on the carriers and manufacturers.
