Galaxy S8 Tips
How To: Completely Disable Bixby on Your Samsung Galaxy
Sorry Samsung. I know you really wanted Bixby to be the next Siri, Google Assistant, or Alexa — but it just isn't. Burying the option to disable the app won't change that. Sure, Bixby has some redeeming qualities, but there are many of us who don't want it shoved down our throats. We'll show you how to disable the app to prevent it from launching every time you try to access just about anything.
How To: Shoot Selfies Without Touching Your Galaxy Phone
Smartphone photos look a lot better when you keep the camera steady, but selfies by nature make you do finger gymnastics to hold the phone while keeping your thumb free to hit the shutter button. If you have a Galaxy phone like the S10, however, there's an ingenious feature you can use to help ensure perfect selfies on the first try.
How To: Get Completely Custom Themes for Any Samsung Galaxy Using Hex Installer
Samsung's stock Galaxy Themes system leaves much to be desired with its restrictive and expensive theme packs. Back in the day, the gold standard for Android theming was CyanogenMod Theme Engine. And while it no longer exists, a successor has emerged to fill the void.
How To: Install Samsung's Good Lock App to Customize Your Galaxy
Customizing the lock screen, status bar, and other aspects of your Galaxy's UI usually requires root. Thankfully, Samsung has reintroduced a well-regarded app that gives you the freedom to tailor parts of your Galaxy's interface in just a few simple steps.
How To: Prevent Samsung's Shady 360 Storage Cleaner from Phoning Home to China
Samsung, like other OEMs, partners with third-party companies to include their apps on Galaxy devices. For example, Microsoft pays Samsung millions to pre-install certain Office apps. But one of these partners might not be on the up and up.
How To: It's Super Easy to Get Full-Size Thumbnails in Samsung's Gallery App
Is it just me, or are the thumbnail in the Samsung Gallery app a bit small? I spend quite a bit of time looking through rows of images, one at a time, to find the right photo. Wouldn't it be so much easier if the thumbnails showed the entire image instead of a cropped square? Well, there's a way to do just that.
How To: Galaxy Vibrates Randomly? Use This App to Figure Out Why
Random vibrations, ghost buzzing — whatever you call it, when your phone goes off for seemingly no reason, it's pretty frustrating. Finding the source of a phantom vibration can be almost impossible if there's no associated notification, especially given the myriad apps and system processes that run on your Galaxy device.
How To: Get a System-Wide Dark Theme on Your Galaxy S8 — No Root Needed
Samsung's recent TouchWiz rebranding didn't really change much — the skin is still as bloated as ever, and the UI still uses tacky accent colors. But while you can't fully remove TouchWiz without rooting, there are ways to make it look a lot better.
How To: Your Galaxy Has a Hidden QR Code Reader You Should Know About
QR codes are like smart little cubes of data. To unlock this data, you will need a QR reader. These are annoying because you typically have to download a third-party app, and some of these apps are shady. Luckily your Samsung Galaxy running One UI has a hidden QR scanner built right in.
How To: Disable the Post-Screenshot Toolbar Overlay on Your Samsung Galaxy
With Samsung's One UI version of Android, it's easier than ever to take a screenshot and quickly edit the captured image. However, the downside to that convenience has manifested itself in an overlay ribbon that can also get in the way.
How To: Hide the Navigation & Status Bars on Your Galaxy S8 for Even More Screen Real Estate — No Root Needed
The Samsung Galaxy S8's almost bezel-less display is truly a sight to behold, especially when set to Immersive Mode. While transparent when on the home screen, the navigation and status bars on the S8 will often turn opaque depending on what app you're using at the moment. This, in turn, can detract from the overall experience when viewing anything from the S8's display, as the bars along the top and bottom of the screen bump the phone's aspect ratio down to lower levels.
How To: Your Eyes Are All You Need to Keep Your Galaxy's Screen On
Having your phone's display suddenly dim and black out while reading is an annoyance we've all had to live with. If you have a Samsung Galaxy like the Note 10, however, there's a simple setting you can enable to take care of this problem once and for all.
How To: Schedule Night Mode to Kick in Automatically on Your Galaxy
Samsung may have beaten Apple to the punch in introducing a system-wide dark theme with One UI, but they left out the ability to schedule night mode to kick in automatically. It's nothing that a little update can't fix, however, and that's exactly what Samsung just did to remedy this issue.
How To: Turn Your Galaxy S8 into a Google Pixel
There's no debating that the Galaxy S8 and S8+ are top contenders for the most beautifully designed handsets of 2017, but the same can't be said for their TouchWiz interface, which has been met with lukewarm reception at best.
How To: Fix Delayed Notifications on Your Galaxy S8 or S8+
The Note 7 debacle taught Samsung an important lesson on cramming oversized batteries into their handsets, and they've applied it diligently to their Galaxy S8 and S8+. You might even say the company has gone a little too far in trying to achieve a balance between battery size and battery life, as it not only not only sets screen resolutions to 1080p by default and warns users about maxing out display brightness, but it also keeps close tabs on individual apps' battery usage.
How To: Boost Sound Quality on Your Galaxy Using Dolby Atmos
While the audio experience is solid on Galaxy phones, it isn't the absolute best out of the box. That's because Samsung has partnered with Dolby Laboratories to provide its industry-leading sound technology known as Dolby Atmos, but it's turned off by default. Once enabled, your audio experience will go from good to great.
How To: Everything You Need to Disable on Your Galaxy S8 or S8+ for Privacy & Security
Our smartphones are full of personally-identifiable information. So much of what we do with these devices is tracked and recorded to make our experience more streamlined and personalized. For many users, that's a fair trade — but for privacy-minded folks, it's a raw deal.
How To: The Safest Way to Disable All Bloatware on Your Galaxy S8 or S8+
Carrier-branded Galaxy S8 models come with a ton of bloatware that you usually can't get rid of without rooting. If you dig a little deeper, however, there is a way to debloat your S8, and it's relatively hassle-free.
How To: This Setting Makes It So Much Easier to See Notifications on Your Galaxy
Phones are getting bigger and taller, so it's increasingly harder to reach the notification tray. But Samsung is here to the rescue, as they've introduced into One UI for Galaxy devices a gesture that makes it easy to access the notification drawer on your home screen.
How To: Improve Palm Rejection on Your Galaxy Device to Prevent Accidental Touches
Samsung has made curved displays a signature element of their flagship phones, but the Edge Screen, as it's called, has proven to be a magnet for accidental touches. Fortunately, Samsung has developed a little known app to help prevent this problem.