Hot Android How-Tos
How To: Get One UI's Rounded Corners on Non-Samsung Devices
The two primary design paradigms in Samsung's One UI Android skin are vertical padding and rounded UI elements. The extra empty space at the top of most menus moves touchable elements closer to your thumb, and the rounded UI elements match the curved corners of modern smartphone screens. While you can't add the vertical padding on other Android phones, you can now get the rounded corners.
How To: Wirelessly Charge Other Devices with Your Pixel 5
Google dropped several of the Pixel 4's more gimmicky features in favor of perfecting the basics on the Pixel 5. While you probably won't miss Motion Sense or the Assistant squeeze gesture, you'll definitely like the extra battery they packed into the space those features once occupied. Almost 50% more battery, actually.
How To: Add Custom Toggles to Android 11's New Power Menu
Android 11 made a pretty significant UI change to the menu that appears when you press and hold your power button. Google created an entirely new system that apps can use to populate quick toggles in this menu, but the trouble is, not many apps are using this system yet.
How To: 5 Little Tricks to Make Typing Easier on Android
The act of typing on a smartphone has come a long way since the days of tiny physical keys at the bottom of a BlackBerry, but there are still quirks that can make it frustrating. Luckily, if you know a few hidden tricks, things do get easier.
How To: Get Stock Android's Volume Panel on Your Samsung Galaxy
Like with many aspects of One UI, Samsung's changes to Android's volume panel are controversial. Between the different orientation and alternative design, it isn't for everyone. Fortunately for Android purists, there's an app to solve this problem.
How To: Resize Picture-in-Picture Mode Videos in One UI 3.0
With Samsung's beautiful, large displays, the Galaxy S and Note series are great tools for multitasking. This goes beyond the hardware with tools like split-screen mode, floating windows, bubbles, and picture-in-picture mode. And in One UI 3.0, that last one is becoming even more useful.
How To: Turn Your Galaxy Note 20 into a Google Pixel in 11 Steps
You can't beat Samsung's hardware, but their software still isn't for everyone. That's the thing, though — software can be replaced. So if you're more a fan of Google's vision for Android, but you can't get enough of Samsung's beautiful screens and build quality, you're just 11 steps away from getting the best of both worlds.
How To: Use Notification Bubbles in One UI 3.0 to Turn Any Conversation into a Popup Chat
From browsing social media to creating films, your smartphone can do it all. But even with all that power, for many, it is primarily used to communicate with others, particularly via text. In One UI 3.0, Samsung and Google drastically changed this core functionality with a new-ish feature called notification bubbles.
How To: All the New Features in Samsung's One UI 3.0 Update for Galaxy Devices
Just days after Google released the official Android 11 update, Samsung already had a pre-beta build of One UI 3.0 available for developers to test their apps on. So this year's main OS upgrade is likely hitting Galaxy phones even earlier than we thought.
How To: Use Augmented Reality to Find Your Friends in Google Maps
Alongside the launch of Android 11, Google has gifted Pixel users with several exclusive features, including App Suggestions on the home screen. Another exclusive feature involves Live View, the augmented reality walking navigation feature in Google Maps and one of the more useful implementations of AR for the average consumer.
How To: 13 Galaxy Note 20 Security & Privacy Settings You Should Double Check Right Away
If it has an internet connection, it's got a huge attack surface for hackers. But what makes your phone even more dangerous is its portability and the collection of sensors it houses that can be just as good at tracking you as the camera and mic.
Get Up to Speed: Top 10 New Android 11 Features & List of Eligible Phones
After a few months and a couple of beta versions, Android 11 is now ready not only for Pixel devices, but also handsets from OnePlus, Xiaomi, Oppo, and Realme.
How To: 29 New Features in Samsung's One UI 2.5 You Won't Want to Miss
Samsung's One UI has slowly become the model for Android skins. The old iOS-like TouchWiz already feels like a relic, thanks in part to the newer user interface's exceptional design and fast but meaningful updates. One UI is so good, other OEM skins have copied elements of it. The latest release is One UI 2.5, which has over 20 new features that make the skin even better.
How To: Binge Netflix Shows Faster by Increasing Playback Speed
Not including playback speed controls in a video app is a design flaw. These controls are useful tools that let you speed up or slow it down a video. Want to catch all the Easter eggs in Avengers: Infinity Wars? Slow it down. Want to rewatch the last season of Strangers Things before the new season arrives? Speed it up.
How To: There's a Faster Way to Check for System Updates on Your OnePlus
We all know Android updates have been iffy in the past. But Google has implemented several measures recently that have sped up the process substantially, and OnePlus is taking advantage of these. Still, a staged rollout update might keep you waiting for a few days or longer. So if you'd rather skip the wait, there's a better way to manually check for system updates.
How To: The Galaxy Note 20 Has a Gorilla Glass Victus Display — Here's Why That's So Awesome
One of the underrated components of the Galaxy Note 20 series is its usage of Gorilla Glass Victus. Think of this as Gorilla Glass 7, the latest innovation from Corning. And this release is a big deal, delivering protection without sacrifices.
How To: Lock Files in a Private Folder with the Files by Google App
Android has not had the best reputation for privacy and security, though Google has made strides in those departments in recent years.
How To: Google Is Becoming the New OnePlus (& It's Not Just the Pixel 4a)
Back in the Nexus days, Google's approach to hardware was very different from most OEMs. You could say OnePlus swooped in with a similar mantra a few years later, focusing on great hardware at an affordable price tag. There were compromises, of course, but even then, it resulted in true treasures such as the Galaxy Nexus and Nexus 5.
How To: Customize Your OnePlus 7 or 7T Pro's Caller ID Screen with an Updated Design
When you receive a call on your phone, you likely don't think twice about the design when the notification pops up. Whatever the default UI is, that's what works best since there aren't any other choices to pick from. At least, that's how things used to be in the past — we're starting to see some new OnePlus mods that allow you to expand on it.
How To: See Dismissed Notifications on Android 11
Ever since Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, there has been a hidden feature known as Notification Log. Once unlocked, it showed all dismissed notifications. It has never really had an interface, so it is more of a cool thing to enable than a must-have feature. But thanks to a recent upgrade to Android 11, it is something every user should unlock.
How To: Create & Boot from a Magisk Core-Only Image to Fix a Bootloop Without Custom Recovery
Bootloops are a risk inherent to rooted devices — with great power comes great destroyability, after all. While custom recovery sometimes provides a quick fix when you flash the wrong Magisk module, with TWRP becoming more challenging to implement thanks to Android 10, the solution is a bit more complicated nowadays.
How To: Find Temporarily Free Apps & Games on the Google Play Store
Software takes time to create, and time is money, so a lot of great apps aren't free. But to generate interest, some developers will make their paid apps free for a limited time. The potential for a long-term increase in daily active users more than offsets the short-term lost revenue. So for us end users, the trick is knowing when these sales are going on.
How To: Enable 2-Button Navigation on the Pixel 4
There was a period when Google knew they were switching to gesture navigation, but felt users weren't quite ready for it. The result was Android 9's two-button nav bar that you could both tap and swipe. Android 10 has since brought full-on gestures, and that's the version the Pixel 4 shipped with, so it never had that quirky, fun two-button setup. But you can bring it back, so to speak.
How To: This TWRP Alternative Lets You Manage Magisk Modules & So Much More on OnePlus Devices
TWRP has been the king of custom recovery on Android for years now, thanks to device compatibility and core features. But there's a new player in town — at least, for OnePlus devices — and it's got a lot of useful features that might finally get you to ditch TWRP.
How To: There's a Super Fast Button Combo to Put Your Android Phone into Vibrate Mode
Everyone has that internal checklist on the way out the door. Keys? ID? Phone? Check, check, check. But it still feels like you're missing something as you head off to work. It's not until your ringtone starts blasting at full volume in an important meeting that you realize what you forgot to do: put your phone on vibrate.
How To: Get the iPhone's New Widgets from iOS 14 on Any Android Phone
After more than a decade, iPhones are finally getting widgets on the home screen. They even have that Apple aesthetic that many people crave, with their uniform, squircle appearance. But fret not, as with pretty much any iOS feature, you can get them on Android with a tiny bit of work.
How To: Make a Button That Opens Your Favorite Google News Topic in 1 Tap
Fake news was one of the main driving factors for Google News taking its current form. It offers verified sources to ensure more accuracy in your news feed to help control the spread of false information. Something you may not know, however, is that you can view your favorite Google News topics from your home screen with a single tap.
How To: How Google's Preventing the AirDropped Nudes Problem with Android's New Nearby Share
Android has finally got a proper alternative to Apple's AirDrop. With a few touches, Nearby Share lets you send files, links, and even tweets to Android, Windows, macOS, ChromeOS, or Linux. But AirDrop has not been without its share of issues, and thankfully, Google has learned from them.
How To: This Is the Best Way to Edit a Wall of Text on Android
Ever typed out a long message on your phone only to find several errors after you hit send? Proofreading would fix this, but anyone who's spent time trying to edit on a smartphone knows how difficult it is. Thankfully, Gboard makes this task easier.
How To: Use Android's New Nearby Share Feature to 'AirDrop' Files & Links to Other Devices
Android phones finally have a true AirDrop alternative called "Nearby Share." The new feature was added through an update to the Google Play Services app that comes pre-installed on all Android devices in the US, so you don't even have to wait on a firmware upgrade — it's just there.
How To: Google Just Turned Off a Crucial Feature in Google Photos for Android — Here's How to Fix It
After shipping a redesign of Google Photos and adding a neat new Map View feature for exploring photos, Google has made another change to manage the volume of photos and videos the app is handling during the Social Distancing Era.
How To: Telegram Has a Hidden Attach Button That Works After You've Started Typing
On the Android version of the Telegram app, the attachment icon disappears when you input your first letter or emoji. This "feature" forces you to either delete what you wrote to attach a picture first, or just send the file afterward. Since both of those options suck, we were happy to find a hidden third way.
How To: 6 Ways to Try Google's Next-Gen AR Experience on Android Right Now
While Apple and Samsung have started integrating depth sensors into the iPad Pro and Galaxy smartphones, more advanced AR experiences are arriving for standard smartphone cameras on Android devices.
YSK: Gboard Lets You Copy & Paste Multiple Items
Touchscreen typing has always presented its own unique challenges, so a phone's copy and paste capabilities are more important than you might think. Gboard users should know about a useful feature in this category: extended clipboard history.
How To: Should You Install Android 11 Beta? Here Are All the Major Problems
Android 11 is available as a simple beta install for Pixel devices right now. Just visit Google's beta signup page, make sure you're signed in with the same account used on your Pixel, then opt into the program. You'll get an OTA update that will put you on Android 11 in no time. But is it ready to be a daily driver?
How To: Turn Your Pixel into a Dead Man's Switch That Texts Your Emergency Contacts if You Don't Arrive in Time
Google's feature drops for Pixel devices have added fun and useful new abilities, such as AR effects for Duo, Call Screen automation, scheduling Dark Mode, and Quick Access Wallet for Google Pay, that are exclusive to the company's line of smartphones.
How To: The One Android Feature You Must Enable Before Protesting
Before you go out to protest, understand what you are facing. Sometimes these demonstrations become infected with looters and rioters, which could mean interaction with law enforcement and potentially arrest. And if your phone is on you, it can be used as a tool against you.
How To: Telegram Has a Fun Way to Jump Back into Group Chats
Although Telegram wasn't able to make our roundup for the best encrypted messaging app, it's my go-to for group messaging thanks to its ever-expanding list of features. The app even makes jumping into group chats fun and easy by allowing you to set a home screen shortcut for your favorite Telegram threads.
How To: Type in a Foreign Language with This Hidden Gboard Feature
There are plenty of apps that can translate text on websites and even in the real world. But when you need to write a message in a language you don't speak, it's your keyboard that will come in handy the most.
YSK: There's an Easy Way to Change Samsung's Tab Switcher into a Tidy List View
Are you the kind of person to never close tabs in your browser? With so many tabs, the overview menu becomes congested, making it difficult to go back. But it doesn't have to be that way.