You love your Android smartphone more than anything, right? Even more than that iPhone you tried once but you didn’t like it because it wouldn’t let you personalize your stuff? Well, then this quick write up is for all those Android lovers and Android app development companies, who always want to squeeze more juice out of Android smartphones. Here, we will discuss some of the secret tips and tricks that every Android lover must know about so that they can do more with their Android smartphone without making any in-app purchases or downloading any paid app:
Reveal System UI Tuner
When it comes to customization, Android app development doesn’t leave any stone unturned and makes sure whatever you see on your phone’s screen is customizable. Okay that may be a little exaggerated but it lets you customize a lot. Take, for instance, System UI Tuner. System UI Tuner is a feature that lets you customize the user interface of your phone, and lets you decide what you want to see on the status bar, including Auto-rotate screen, Headset, Work Profile, Cast, Hotspot, Bluetooth, Do not disturb, Volume, WiFi, Ethernet, Cellular Data, Battery, Time and more. But here’s the catch: this setting is hidden and appears once you activate it manually. It is available on all the Android versions past Marshmallow, and can be activated at the pull down menu and long pressing the settings icon for 5 seconds and lift. And there you have it, the System UI Tuner settings are now in your settings. However, in Android Oreo you will have to reach out a little further in the Settings by accessing the ‘System’ tab.
Developer Options
Although the hidden developer options in the Android version have been put in place to allow developers make wider use of Android, there is no harm in a generic users messing with the developer options a little. However, if you are thinking of activating this setting, do it at your own risk. Through developer options, you can access many features that give you more control over your smartphone like USB Debugging, Always-on display, Bootloader unlock, Networking tweaks, Animation scale duration, Hardware rendering, and special controls for apps like force app killer, force multi-window scaling for apps and more. Once activated, developers can use this, essentially a system tweak, to modify the stock OS and even install custom ROMs. Android game developers these days use OpenGL ES 2.0 in 3D and other high-end games, which means a mid-range Android phone may not be able to handle these games very well. But by enabling ‘Forced 4x MSAA’ for OpenGL 2.0 apps, you can get that extra push from your smartphone’s GPU to boost the overall gaming performance.
Instant Apps
Instant Apps is a great new feature by Android that allows you to use apps temporarily, which go away just as you stop using them. However, the application data including your personal contact details, personalization data etc., is stored with your Google account and is deployed in the app every time you launch it. But well, you need to put in a little effort to enable Instant Apps to work with your phone. To activate Instant Apps, simply go to the settings, access your Google Account settings, and find Instant Apps. Access the section for Instant Apps and enable it for one of your Gmail IDs. Now look out for instant apps icon in Google Play Store to find apps that allow you to download Instant Apps. In line with this, another tempting feature released by Android, with gamers in focus, is Google Play Instant. Launched in March 2018, Google Play Instant allows you to download a preview of a particular in an instant app format to let you try the game. This helps a user make up their mind they want to utilize their mobile data or even pay for a particular app or not. To try a Play Instant app, simply go to the app window of the app on Play Store, and find ‘Try now’, right beside the install icon. Upon clicking the ‘Try now’ icon, the application will download an Instant version of the application on your phone, which is readily playable.