Hidden Android Features You Need To Know
In this article you will learn some very important but hidden android features that you might have not yet been using by now. It’s a good thing for you to learn some or all of these features in order to use your android phone to the fullest. You may also want to read my article about 8 Useful Tricks To Make Your Android Faster Than Before.
Accessing Deleted Notifications
We already know that notification plays a big role on how we use our phones, it makes checking out what’s happening across different applications easier and saves a lot of time. But we often accidentally delete notifications, missing out on messages and important updates.
I mean it happens with me all the time because once a notification is gone, it’s gone. But do you know that there is a hidden feature through which you can access again all previous notifications you accidentally deleted.
Steps to follow on How to Reaccess Deleted Notifications
- You can do that by simply long pressing on the home screen to access the widgets.
- Then scroll down and select the settings widget.
- Then scroll down even further and select the notification logs option.
- Once that is done go ahead and open it up.
And there you will find a long list of all previous notifications with details. Stuff like chat details, app updates, call logs and all the important stuff that’s been happening on your device are found right there. So next time when you miss out on a notification, you know what to do.
Hidden Android Features in The Developer Option
Now we all agree to it that Android does multitasking like no other OS. You can watch videos, browse the Internet then instantly keep those in the background and start playing a game. That’s really well and fine but wouldn’t it be cool if you could do all of that together? Well, now you can do that all together if you have Android version 7 nougat or above. You can drag any running app from the recent application section and have them run side by side at the same time literally taking multitasking to the next level.
Now you can, let’s say, watch the video and play the game at the same time. But probably the set of most hidden android features is hidden behind the build number in the about Phone section found in Android settings.
Very carefully tap on the build number at least seven times and you will find a new option magically appears in the Android settings called as the developer’s option.
Now, I think, some or most people already know about the developer’s option but don’t use it much as there are tons of options here without any proper explanations.
Animation Scales
So let me go ahead and break down some useful features for you like the animation scales found down the list can come very handy if a device is slowing down.
Here you can reduce these three options to a lower value and what that does is it reduces the time android takes to move. That is “switching from one page or one app to another”.
So essentially reducing those values gives you an almost instant performance boost to your device.
Background Process Limit
Now, as we move further down the list in the Developer Option, you can definitely limit the number of apps that are running at a time. It might sound a bit insignificant but it fixes the most important problem on Android networks.
Since Android makes closing an app harder it forces us to have multiple apps running in the background essentially eating up a lot of RAM and battery.
Now since we don’t use more than three or four apps at a time it’s a smarter option to actually limit apps to three or four at a time.
So what that does is it automatically checks and closes app that you’re not using giving you a faster Android experience but most importantly it will prevent your device from slowing down over time as you keep using it.
Hidden Safe Mode
Do you know that there is a hidden mode carefully hidden under the power off button? If you don’t believe me, try these steps below:
- Carefully press the power button on your device.
- Then very carefully long press on the power off option and a new Android mode called as the safe mode pops up.
- Tap on it and your device will restart into the safe mode.
With no third-party apps running in the background your device will instantly feel like the day you first got it. It’s very fast and snappy.
This mode can be accessed during troubleshooting, say if your device is crashing or if there is a virus that’s preventing Android to boot, then you can quickly hop over to the safe mode and uninstall the trouble causing app, as simple as that.
Android Recovery Option
Another one I want to share here is the Android recovery option. It is a very handy Android feature that is not known to many people. And due to its functionality it’s often made hard to access.
Steps On How to Access Android Recovery Option
- You will first have to completely turn off your device.
- Then press and hold a combination of hardware buttons that’s different for different devices so check the description of your device to find out how to get into yours.
- And if everything went right, rather than booting into Android, your device will open up the Android recovery options.
In this option, you will find a set of really handy options here like say, you can hard reset a phone if it’s not turning on by using the reset options from here. If an app is crashing your device, you can clear app cache from here.
It also gives you access to the device storage so that you can recover data or flash a stock firmware in case your device is not turning on.
ALSO READ: Know These Very Useful iPhone Apps That Can Help Save Your Day
So that’s pretty much all about learning the hidden android features. I hope this article will be of great help in using your android device to its fullest capacity. Don’t forget to subscribe to our free newsletter for you to receive our best updates like this one you are reading now.
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