Android Features
How To: Calibrate the Colors of Your Pixel 2's Display with ElementalX
No matter how good a display is, the idea of perfect color calibration is subjective — some prefer warmer more saturated colors, while others prefer the calmer cooler side of the color spectrum. It is almost impossible to create a single color calibration that everyone can agree on out of the box. The display on the Pixel 2 XL was specifically calibrated with a more realistic color profile in mind.
News: 4 Reasons the OnePlus 5T Is the Best Phone for Rooting & Modding in 2018
Rooting has a long and storied history in the Android community. As OEMs push out more refined software, the need to root has diminished — still, the number of incredible things you can do with a rooted phone is enough to tempt many enthusiasts. Luckily, some manufacturers are still putting out root-friendly devices.
How To: Permanently Stop Any App from Updating on the Play Store — No Computer Needed
App updates bring new functionality, but they can also break old features or introduce changes no one wants. Unfortunately, if you're holding onto an older app version because you don't want to accept the update, it becomes a lot harder to keep the rest of your apps updated.
How To: 101 Features Android Phones Had Before iPhones
When it's all said and done, it doesn't really matter who did it first — the more important question is who did it best. Still, it's nice to know who's really responsible for groundbreaking innovations in the smartphone space.
How To: Get Google's New Live Bloom Wallpapers on Your Pixel
If you own a Google Pixel 4a or newer, there are new live wallpapers for you to explore that other Android devices can't have.
How To: Copy Text from Anywhere on Your Phone — Even if the App Blocks Text Selection
It's easy to copy text from webpages, messages, documents, and other views on your Android device — except when it isn't. Many apps block or prohibit text selection, forcing you to take screenshots or write out the whole excerpt manually. But you don't have to resort to those methods since there's a simple workaround to selecting and copying text from uncooperative apps.
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: Completely Banish Google from Your Android Experience
Update (February 2019): The methods below will help on older Android versions, but we've recently revisited this topic. So if you have a newer Android phone and you want to get rid of Google, head here.
How To: See if Your Phone Has A/B Partitions for Seamless Updates
If your phone has an A/B partition layout, there are two virtual hard drives that each contain a copy of Android. After every restart, it picks a partition to boot from, then the other lays idle. The idle partition can be overwritten with a new copy of the OS and it won't affect the active one. So the next time you reboot, it just switches partitions and it's as if you updated instantly.
Samsung Internet 101: How to Sync Your Open Tabs with Desktop Firefox
It's always a pleasure when your activity syncs across all of your devices. Herein lies another reason to use Samsung Internet — the app natively syncs with your open tabs on desktop Firefox. Anything you do on your computer can be easily accessible from your smartphone.
How To: Enable NetGuard's Hidden Ad-Blocking Feature on Your Android Phone
NetGuard is a well-established app known for its highly secure firewall, which blocks unwanted web activity from individual apps that can take up both precious bandwidth and battery life. Not quite as well known, however, is the fact there's a second official version of NetGuard that comes with a hidden ad-blocking feature, which can be activated with just a little tinkering in the app's settings menu.
How To: Google Maps vs. Google Maps Go — Which App Is Right for You?
Google's "Go" line of apps are lightweight counterparts designed to be limited speedy alternatives to their full-featured sibling apps. There is a Go version of Photos, Search, Maps, and more — but are they the right apps for you?
How To: Enable 'Flip to Shhh' on Your Google Pixel & Quickly Turn on Do Not Disturb Mode
The Pixel's "Flip to Shhh" feature may not be groundbreaking, but it is useful. Third-party apps are copying it for other phones because it's so convenient. But it's not enabled by default and it's fairly hidden in the settings. So to take full advantage of your Pixel's feature set, you should learn how to use Flip to Shhh.
How To: Netflix Missing on Android? Here's How to Sideload the App
If you have an Android device that Netflix does not support, you can check the Play Store and it simply won't be there. But just because you're unable to download it through official means doesn't mean you have to live without Netflix since there's a way you can sideload it manually.
How To: Use Wireless ADB in Samsung's One UI 3.0 (It's Actually Pretty Easy)
Samsung's One UI 3.0 skin is built on top of Google's Android 11 open source code base, which means you get all of the standard features, plus some cool bonus stuff from Samsung. However, it's one of those standard AOSP features that you might find most useful if you send a lot of ADB commands.
How To: Install TWRP Without a Computer
TWRP is the premiere custom recovery for Android because of how many devices it supports and how simple it is to use. But installing it in the first place hasn't always been the easiest thing to do — until now. With the help of a Magisk module, you can finally use one Android device to flash TWRP on another.
The Big Android Dictionary: A Glossary of Terms You Should Know
Android comprises an entire ecosystem of apps, games, functions, and features, so it would only make sense that it has its own lexicon. Words, phrases, and acronyms that didn't exist ten years ago are now used in an off-the-cuff style by developers and support technicians across the web.
How To: Sideload Flashable ZIPs on Android with TWRP
If you're one who likes to tinker with Android, TWRP is the first thing you should install. It replaces your phone's stock recovery mode interface and adds over a dozen advanced features to your device—most notably, the ability to flash ZIPs that can modify practically every aspect of your operating system. It's certainly one of the most powerful tools available for Android, and there's simply nothing capable of replacing it.
How To: Turn Your Android Phone into a Universal Remote Control with These Cool Apps
Have you ever seen those super-expensive universal remote controls like the Logitech Harmony and thought to yourself, "Man, I really want one of those, but that's just too much money"?
How To: Set Volume Levels to Change During Scheduled Times on Android
Different times call for different ringtone volumes. When you're at work or school, you need your phone to be quiet so it doesn't make a disturbance—but when you're at home or out and about, the volume should be turned back up so you don't miss any important notifications.
How To: There's a Handy Shortcut for Typing Fractions on Android
If you're using the default Samsung Keyboard on a Samsung Galaxy smartphone or Gboard on a Google Pixel or any other Android device, here's a cool trick you should know about.
How To: Schedule Texts to Send Later with Samsung Messages
Ideas can hit you out nowhere, but texting loved ones in the wee hours of the morning or during work hours isn't always ideal, especially if they've muted their notifications. So you'll want to send a message at a better time to ensure it gets the attention it deserves. Samsung Messages lets you do just that by scheduling messages to send at a later date.
How To: Keep Law Enforcement Out of Your Android Device
With protests springing up across America, there's a chance you may have your first interaction with law enforcement. Many demonstrators will have their phones in-hand to film the action, which, sadly, could prompt an officer to demand the device and any self-incriminating data it may contain. Before this happens, you should know there are tools at your disposal to protect your data in such situations.
How To: Top 5 Free Interactive Live Wallpapers for Your Android Phone or Tablet
You can find a ton of live wallpapers for your Android device on Google Play, but the more alluring interactive ones are a harder to come by, which can bring your home screen to life using a few finger swipes and taps.
Magisk 101: How to Install Magisk on Your Rooted Android Device
When Google added new security measures to Android Marshmallow, it had a lasting impact on the entire process of rooting. These measures prevent the the Superuser daemon (the process that handles requests for root access) from getting the permissions it needs to do its job at boot. In order to get around these issues, Chainfire created the systemless root method.
How To: Get Android's Tablet-Only Taskbar on Your Smartphone for a Fresh Take on Multitasking
Android 12L and Android 13 have a taskbar just for tablets that lets you quickly open recent, suggested, or pinned apps and drag and drop apps into split-screen mode. While the taskbar is meant just for tablets and foldable devices, you can unlock this new feature for your Android smartphone with a bit of tinkering.
Magisk 101: How to Fix SafetyNet 'CTS Profile Mismatch' Errors
Because of Android's new SafetyNet system, certain apps can now block rooted users or prevent you from accessing them altogether — but at least for now, there are still ways around these restrictions.
How To: Root the Pixel 2 or Pixel 2 XL & Install Magisk
Despite concerns with SafetyNet, Google actually cares about root. Every phone they sell has an unlockable bootloader, so you can toggle a setting and send a Fastboot command, then start flashing custom firmware right away. The Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL continue this tradition, and now they have an official root method.
How To: Automatically Translate Any Android App into Any Language
Android apps check your system locale settings to determine which language they should display. For the most part, it's a seamless experience—except for those times when an app has not been translated into your language of choice, in which case the app will usually default to English.
How To: Replace the Tip of Your S Pen (& Why You Should)
When you were unboxing your Galaxy Note7, you probably wondered why a little metal claw tool was included in the packaging. Then, if you looked closer, you saw there were five plastic sticks included with the claw tool that came in two different colors.
News: Always-Updated List of Carriers That Support RCS Universal Profile
In November 2016, the RCS Universal Profile (Rich Communications Services) was introduced. The technology takes text messaging to the 21st century, emulating many of the features found in IM apps like WhatsApp and iMessage, but working through your phone number like regular SMS or MMS. The only thing is, your carrier needs to support RCS-UP to use the feature. Thankfully, the list is growing.
How To: Unroot & Revert Your OnePlus 5 or 5T to 100% Stock
To please those of us who love to mod and root our Androids, OnePlus has made both the OnePlus 5 and 5T relatively easy to customize — so much so that the 5T topped our list for the best phones for rooting. Unfortunately, unlocking the bootloader and using root to modify the firmware on your OnePlus 5 or 5T makes it hard to update to a new firmware such as Oreo when compared to stock.
How To: The Easiest Way to Send Fastboot Commands to Your Google Pixel
Pixels don't have a "Download Mode" like Samsung Galaxy phones, so there's not an easy, point-and-click way to send firmware files and low-level commands from your computer. What they do have is an even more powerful tool: Fastboot Mode.
How To: Still Missing Live Photos on Your Android? Try These 3 Apps
Apple didn't invent the concept of photos with videos embedded (that credit goes to HTC and their Zoe feature), but they sure did popularize this functionality when they came out with Live Photos. If you're jealous of iPhone users, you certainly don't need to be — there are several great ways to recreate Live Photos on Android.
How To: All the Privacy & Security Settings You Should Check on Your OnePlus
One of the best things about Android is the ability to customize every aspect of your device to make it your own. However, unless you have prior knowledge or experience with every single setting available to you, you might have missed a few critical features without even knowing it. Some settings are easy to find, while others might be tucked away in another menu of their own.
How To: This Innocent Calculator Is Really a Secret App Safe for Android
Trust can be a touchy subject in general, and is often required when sharing personal information—especially so when handing our phones over to others. You may not have a ton of secret or nefarious information on your device, but that doesn't mean you want your mom or snoopy coworker having easy access to your messages or Facebook app.
Magisk 101: How to Install Magisk Modules from the Repo or Third-Party Sources
Much like Xposed or Cydia, Magisk has an official repository that makes it easy to download root-level tweaks. These tweaks are called modules, and they can do anything from changing your emojis to installing high-level audio mods. But as it stands, a large number of Magisk modules are not hosted on the official repo just yet, so there are two primary ways to install them.
Android Basics: How to Enable Developer Options & USB Debugging
Many Android utilities use Android Debug Bridge, or ADB for short, to send commands from a computer over to your phone or tablet. This enables such utilities to run terminal commands that, in some cases, wouldn't be possible on Android without root access.
How To: Enable ARCore on Any Android Phone
When it comes to augmented reality (AR) on Android, you might be wondering how you can get those cool new games and apps on your unsupported phone. Google has an officially supported device list for its ARCore platform, which usually consists of the more modern devices. You won't find very many older devices on the list for a reason, but that doesn't mean your "old" phone can't use ARCore still.
How To: Reset Your Nexus Lock Screen Password
It happens to everyone: you set a lock screen password in a hurry and cannot remember it the next day. To unlock your device again, you need to reset the password (or PIN, pattern, etc). There are two official methods of doing this.