Smartphones have become part and parcel of our daily life.A day without your phone is simply unimaginable.Gone are the days when people used their phones only for calling.There are so many things you can do with your phones like play games,be on social media,read articles or books and the list is never ending.
But did you know there are many tricks which you can apply to make your smartphone even smarter.For example if you find yourself in a place where the mobile network is not coming properly what do you do?
Most people know this.Just turn on Aeroplane Mode for a few seconds and then turn it off.Your network accessibility improves.This is a very common trick but there are more.
Here is a list of some such tips and tricks for your Android phones.You may know some but I hope they will be useful to you.
Almost every contact in your list has an Whatsapp account(except for people in China where it is banned).Then there will be groups of friends or relatives.A time generally comes when you are bored from someone’s messages maybe any single contact or a group but you cannot tell it on their face.What should you do?
MUTE NOTIFICATION
Blocking is an option but that will be rude.So just mute notifications for a timeperiod.He/She will not know and your purpose is solved.
You can do the same for Facebook profiles also.There you will have to Snooze your contact.
BLUE TICKS
Everyone knows when the receiver sees a message then the sender will realise it when the double tick at the end of the message turns blue in colour.Now suppose you are a receiver and you don’t want the sender to know that you have seen the message.What can you do?
The answer is you can turn off the blue ticks.Go to the Whatsapp settings menu.Open Privacy.You will see an option there called “Read Receipts”.Turn it off and the sender won’t see any blue tick even if you have read the message.
Now there is an antidote to this.If you are a sender and you want to know that the receiver has read the message or he/she is online or not there is a trick.Simply send a voice message and if the receiver sees that the double ticks will be blue.To send a voice message you have to long press the mike icon.
Give it a try.
HOW TO SEE A LOST NOTIFICATION
Notifications are very disturbing though important.How many times has it happened that you are doing something and a notification pops up and you just swipe it away without even giving it a look?It happens with me every now and then.
After clearing it occurs to me that it might have been important.Can you see that cleared away notification again.Yes you can.
Long press anywhere on your home screen.A pop up window will come with a setting called Widgets.
Click on it and then browse down to the settings icon and long press it.Either a shortcut will appear on the homescreen on which you have to click or a page may directly open where you will find” Notification Log”.Click it to find your lost notification.
SPLIT SCREEN
Multitasking is what everyone wants to do now.Your smartphone is also a place where you want to do so.For example you are watching a video and at the same time you wish to browse Google.You can do it on your android device by using Split Screen.
You have to click on the overview button (square button at the bottom of screen) which will open all the running apps.There you will find the app icon in a small circle on the top of any open app.Click on it and in the pop up window you will find the Split Screen option.
Click on it and then open any other app you wish to use together.Your display screen will be divided into two halves(see the image below) and you will be able to work on both apps.
SCREEN PINNING
Your friend asks for your phone to use a particular app and you want that he/she doesn’t peek into any other app.Then you can use Screen Pinning.Your friend will not be able to use any other application or feature.When you get back the phone just unlock with your password or pattern and the phone will be back with all functions.
To activate Screen Pinning go to the Settings menu.Then open Security followed by turning on Screen Pinning.
After turning on press the overview button and then press the required app icon on the top.You will find the Pin option on the pop up window.Click it and only that app will be accessible on your phone.
MAGNIFICATION
Ever wished to enlarge your app icons,your photos or a page you are reading.You can to it just by tapping on the present screen thrice.Before that you have to turn on the Magnification gesture.
Go to the Settings menu and click on Accessibility.
Then turn on the Magnification option and follow it up by clicking on Triple Tap for magnification.
PHOTOS
All mobile cameras by default give you more exposure rather than less.This is good but if you want to shoot a bright place then you will find that the brightest spot in your image is not clear for example if you shoot facing the sun then that spot will not be clear.The trick to lessen the brightness is clicking on the bright spot before capturing the image.
Talking of photos if you are a stock android user you will have Google Photos pre installed .On other Android devices you can download the application.Why?
Suppose you have shot a picture of a page where something is hand written or printed.You want to send the writing to someone.If Google Photos is installed Google Lens will be there and just clicking it you will find the option of copying the text.
REMOVE BACKGROUND
To remove backgrounds in post editing of photos may require a long time by the apps present.There is an easy way to do the same.Just go to any browser and enter “www.remove.bg”.Upload the photo and the background will be removed as easy as that.
Don’t forget to save the new image.
CLEAR CACHE TO INCREASE STORAGE
We always try to clean junk files and delete old videos,photos to increase storage.Clearing Cache is a good tool to do so.What are caches?Cache files are scripts or images or small files that are created on opening any app.
Open the Files application and click on Apps menu.A list of all your phone applications will come up.Click on any app icon and you will find Storage and Cache option.
Click on it and then Clear Cache.
Cache files are useful for fast opening of any app as that point or function is stored as cached memory.So clearing cache daily will slow down your device functioning.Do it after a certain period of time.
CHROME
While reading an article or post we sometimes feel that we should save that page .We have the option of Screenshots.But if we wish to save the entire article which has more than 2-3 pages what can we do then.
If you are using Google Chrome go to the settings and click on the Share option.
You will find a Print option next.On clicking all the pages are saved as a pdf file.Its simple and effective.
YOUTUBE
Sharing the link of an you tube video is very easy.The Share option is just below the video playing.Imagine the video is 10 minutes long and you found out that from 4minutes onwards the video is worth sharing.
Now you can either send the link to your friend and then call him up to say “watch it from 4 minutes onwards” or you can do the following.
Press the Share option and the link will be copied on the message bar of your app (let it be Whatsapp).
After the link type ?t= and then type the time from which you found the video interesting in mm ans ss format.Your job is done.The receiver will open the video from the exact point you wished.
CALLED SOMEONE WHEN PHONE IS IN POCKET
A very common mistake is to put the phone in one’s pocket before locking it.You may call someone,an app may start running and so many things can happen.How can we stop this unwanted mistake?
An app is available in Google Playstore by the name of “Proximity Service”.Install it and keep it on.Then whenever you put the phone in pocket it will turn off.
FINGERPRINT SENSOR
All the fingerprint sensors in mobile phones come with multiple fingerprint options.That doesn’t mean you have to register. multiple fingers to unlock.Actually it is better to register a one finger from different angles which will reduce the percentage of failed attempts.
CONCLUSION
Hope the above mentioned tips and tricks will help you.There are many more and I will inform you in future posts.
Get Some more useful tricks here.
Which one did you like the best?Do you know some tricks?Please let me know in Comments.
SCREENSHOTS SHORTCUTS FOR YOUR SMARTPHONES
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