Galaxy S8 Tips
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: 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: 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: 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.
YSK: Samsung's Keyboard Lets You Copy & Paste Multiple Items
Copying and pasting is even more important on a phone since there's no mouse and keyboard. And like on a computer, copying is usually limited to one item at a time — but with the Samsung Keyboard app, you have the ability to copy multiple sets of text.
How To: Samsung's High Contrast Keyboard Will Actually Help You Type Faster
The monochrome layout on Samsung's default keyboard can make it a little hard to view keys. Fortunately, there's a setting you can enable that makes your keyboard significantly easier to view and type on.
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: Access Your Galaxy S8's Brightness Slider with a Single Swipe
We just keep discovering hidden features and settings scattered throughout the Galaxy S8's system like little digital Easter eggs that were largely left unadvertised. One such setting is an option that lets you change the placement of your S8's display brightness slider.
How To: Get Live FM Radio on Your Galaxy S8 or S8+
The Galaxy S8 and S8+ come equipped with all of the hardware needed to access live FM radio, but this feature was never really advertised or even spoken about. Thankfully, though, all you need is an app to enable it.
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: 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.
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: There's an Easy Way to Change Flashlight Brightness on Your Galaxy Phone
Before all the fancy night mode settings in phone cameras, we used the LED flash to take low-light photos. While it's not used for pictures as much anymore, the LED on the back of your Galaxy is still pretty handy as a flashlight. But did you know there's an easy way to adjust the brightness of this flashlight?
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: Turn Your Samsung Galaxy's Rear Flash into a Notification LED
Even though Samsung has features like the always-on display, you still might miss some notifications now that the alert LED is gone. But baked in One UI is the ability to turn the rear camera flash into a notification LED. Any incoming alerts or calls will cause the camera LED to blink, so you won't miss a thing.
How To: Remove Any Status Bar Icon on Your Galaxy S8, S9, or Note 8
Samsung reintroduced its well regarded Good Lock app, so now you can tweak parts of your Galaxy's interface without the need for root or other labor-intensive mods. Thanks to an awesome add-on, you can even tidy up you phone's status bar — so if you've always wanted to get rid of that pesky NFC "N" icon or any other indicator at the top of your display, you're now just a few taps away.
How To: The Fastest Way to Check for Galaxy Store App Updates on Your Samsung Device
If you have a Samsung device, you probably know the hassle of dealing with both the Galaxy Store and the Google Play Store at the same time for apps. Samsung's offering is forced onto you whether you like it or not; however, it's the only way to officially receive essential updates for your Samsung apps. The good news? You can keep on top of these updates with a super simple trick.
How To: 9 Hidden Audio Mods for Your Galaxy on One UI
Though more well known for their OLED displays and advanced cameras, Galaxy phones like the S8, Note 10 & 10+ and S10 series are a force to be reckoned with when it comes to audio. In fact, flagships from the S9 on up feature AKG-tuned stereo speakers, along with a slew of software enhancements that make listening to music a truly pleasurable experience.
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: Enable Android 10's New Gestures on Your Samsung Galaxy with One UI 2
Samsung launched One UI in 2018 to replace the now infamous TouchWiz. Since then, things have been looking pretty bright for Galaxy users. Now, the much-anticipated arrival of Android 10 is ushering in the One UI 2.0 era, including a new set of gesture-based controls.