Galaxy S9 Tips


How To: Lock Apps in Memory on Your Samsung Galaxy
Every 5G model of the Galaxy S20 comes with 12 GB of memory. This amount of RAM is overkill, but Samsung's been putting similar amounts in its flagships for years. Since you have it, why not put it to use? With One UI 2, you can.

How To: Uninstall Any Bloatware App Without Root or a PC
Bloatware is a problem on Android, and it's not just a Samsung thing. Removing apps that have the Uninstall or Disable button grayed out in Settings has always involved sending complicated ADB commands to your phone from a computer, which itself was always such a pain to set up. Thankfully, that has finally changed.

How To: Play Music on 2 Devices Using Your Samsung Galaxy Phone
Let me paint a picture for you. You're on a long flight home, and while listening to music on your Samsung Galaxy S10, a great song comes on. You want your friend to hear it too, who's also listening to music using a pair of Bluetooth headphones. Thanks to Dual Audio, you can easily share your experience.

How To: 13 Tips for Recording Better Videos on Your Galaxy
Smartphones have put an end to camcorders. If you want to capture memorable moments in high quality, look no further than that technological marvel in your pocket. Recent Galaxy phones are shining examples of how far we've come — but the more capable a camera gets, the more complicated things can be.

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: 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: Make Samsung's App Drawer Loop Back Around Endlessly
By default, the One UI launcher on Galaxy phones makes you scroll all the way back to the left when you hit the end of your app list. Luckily, Samsung has its own solution to help fix this problem if it annoys you. Save yourself a bunch of extra swipes and read on to learn more.

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: Manually Switch to a Different LTE Band on Any Samsung Galaxy Phone
Your Galaxy uses information from your SIM card to communicate with nearby towers and facilitate a connection. Which LTE bands you are assigned depends on a number of factors, including available bandwidth and your device's supported signals. But if speeds aren't great on your auto-selected tower, you can improve things by manually choosing a band.

How To: Remove the 'Media' & 'Devices' Buttons from the Notification Shade on Your Galaxy
While One UI 2 comes with a slew of improvements like native screen recording and more intuitive gestures, it also includes some redundant features such as button shortcuts for "Media" and "Devices" that many of us can do without.

How To: Increase the Number of Volume Steps on Your Galaxy S9
By default, the Galaxy S9 and S9+ only have 15 media volume steps — in other words, there are only 15 increments between silent and full volume. That's usually fine if you're using your phone's speakers, but if you're wearing headphones, more fine-tuned controls would be helpful.

How To: The Easiest Way to Make the Bixby Button Open Google Assistant on Your Galaxy
After years of user complaints, Samsung is finally letting us remap the Bixby button without the need of a third-party app. The new feature requires One UI a simple app update to Bixby, but there's one major downside: Samsung won't let you remap the button to open other digital assistants like Amazon Echo, Microsoft Cortana, and Google Assistant. Luckily, there's an easy workaround.

How To: Back Up & Restore Your Home Screen Layout & Icons on Any Samsung Galaxy
In the past, if you upgraded to a new Galaxy or if you had to factory reset your existing one to fix an issue, you had to restore your home screen layout manually. Your wallpaper, widgets, icon placement, and launcher settings were all dependent on you to be put back in their place. Thankfully, this isn't an issue anymore.

How To: Want a New Look? Add Custom Fonts to Any Samsung Galaxy — No Root Needed
Samsung uses their own SamsungOne font for their Galaxy lineup. But if you're coming from an iPhone or another Android device, you might not love it. With the help of this mod, however, you're sure to find a font that's right for you.

How To: Find What's Eating Up Your RAM on Android
Not every app is designed well. With nearly 3 million apps on the Play Store and countless more that you can sideload from other sources, there are bound to be a few stinkers. And many of them do a terrible job using RAM.

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: Boot Your Galaxy S9 or S9+ into Recovery Mode or Download Mode
From veteran modders to casual tinkerers, booting into either recovery mode or download mode is something every Galaxy S9 owner should know about. These two pre-boot menus serve a very important purpose — recovery mode is the go-to solution for soft bricks, while download mode allows you to flash firmware files using utilities like Odin and Smart Switch, which can truly be a lifesaver.

How To: Use Your Saved Chrome Passwords to Log into Apps on Your Galaxy
If you use Google Chrome on your computer, you've undoubtedly saved a ton of passwords since the browser always prompts you to. But Samsung uses their own password service on their phones by default, so you'll have to change a setting if you want to use your Chrome passwords to log into apps and sites on your Galaxy.

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: The Best Camera Settings to Use on Your Galaxy S9
One of the biggest improvements with the Galaxy S9 and S9+ is the redesigned camera, with the latter scoring an impressive 99 overall on DxOMark. But with an abundance of features and enhancements, tweaking the camera's settings for optimal performance can be a little confusing.