5 hidden Android options I want I knew about sooner

It is well-known that Android gadgets provide a wide selection of options and settings to discover. With Android 16 now accessible and Google frequently engaged on new options, it is easy to miss a few of the extra helpful and fascinating options which have been a part of Android for some time.

Though options like Live Updates and Adaptive Battery are spectacular, listed here are 5 helpful Android options that I imagine are sometimes neglected and that I want I had found earlier.

I’ve examined all of those on each my Galaxy S25+ and Pixel 8a, so you possibly can strive them on any Android machine you personal. You do not want any extra apps both, as all of those options are constructed immediately into Android’s settings menu.

1

Hold your telephone unlocked at dwelling

Lengthen Lock retains your telephone unlocked in trusted locations

Certainly one of my favourite options on Android is known as Extend Lock (previously generally known as Sensible Lock). It has a quite simple premise, and what it does is maintain your telephone unlocked in trusted areas. For instance, you possibly can set Lengthen Lock to unlock your telephone if you’re at dwelling. This makes it straightforward to shortly decide up and use your machine at dwelling with out getting into a PIN or utilizing biometrics.

After all, utilizing this characteristic requires trusting these you reside with, but when you do not have prying eyes at dwelling, it is a useful instrument. As quickly as your telephone leaves the deal with or map space you set on Lengthen Lock, it instantly requires a PIN or biometrics to unlock once more.

Lengthen Lock additionally provides two extra choices: On-Physique Detection and Trusted Gadgets. On-Physique Detection retains your telephone unlocked when you’re strolling with it, and Trusted Gadgets unlocks it when related to a close-by trusted machine, like your smartwatch. Personally, I solely use the trusted location setting, as I discover it extra dependable and safer.

To check out Lengthen Lock your self, comply with the steps beneath:

1. Go to Settings > Safety and Privateness > Extra Safety and Privateness.

2. Scroll down and faucet Lengthen Unlock.

3. Enter your machine PIN.

4. Choose Trusted locations to arrange an space the place your telephone stays unlocked.

2

Always remember a notification

Notification historical past helps you recall notifications you have dismissed

I’ve performed this about 1,000,000 occasions on my telephone: I get a notification, I take a look at it, swipe it away, after which fully neglect about it. Fortunately, that is why Notification historical past exists. Because the identify of the characteristic implies, it retains a historical past of all of the notifications you might have acquired. So, should you unintentionally delete a notification you wish to learn, you possibly can verify your Notification historical past to see what it was, moderately than being left at midnight.

One of the best half is that enabling Notification historical past solely takes just a few seconds and saves you loads of complications. Here is the right way to allow it:

1. Go to Settings > Notifications.

2. Choose Notification historical past.

3. Toggle on Use notification historical past.

4. Your notifications will now be saved to this menu.

3

Pin an app to your display to guard your privateness

Cease prying eyes from seeing an excessive amount of in your telephone

One other helpful Android safety characteristic that I imagine is not talked about sufficient is App pinning. First launched with Android 5.0 Lollipop in 2014, this useful characteristic permits you to pin a single app to your display so it could’t be simply swiped away. So, should you’re handing your telephone over to a child, member of the family, or pal to have a look at, and you do not need them to pry into something in your machine, this prevents that by locking one app to the display.

If you pin an app to the display, you possibly can solely exit it by swiping up and holding the house bar, or by holding down the triangle and sq. buttons for just a few seconds (relying on the kind of gesture navigation you might have enabled). You may as well allow PIN safety, so if the particular person taking a look at your telephone now is aware of the right way to exit App pinning, your PIN is required as an extra step to flee it.

To check out App pinning, comply with these steps:

1. Go to Settings > Safety and privateness > Extra safety and privateness.

2. Scroll down and choose App pinning.

3. Toggle on Use app pinning.

4. Moreover, on the identical display, you possibly can allow or disable Ask for PIN earlier than unpinning.

5. To pin an app, go to Overview, faucet the app icon, and select Pin.

4

Share Wi-Fi by way of QR code

By no means fear about typing your lengthy Wi-Fi password once more

It is the query everybody hears when family and friends go to their dwelling for a very long time: “What’s your Wi-Fi password?” For those who’re uninterested in handing out your Wi-Fi password like sweet on Halloween, this Android characteristic makes it very straightforward to share it shortly with out the trouble of typing your lengthy and probably complicated password on their telephone by sharing your Wi-Fi by way of a QR code. So, if somebody is visiting, they’ll scan the code in your telephone, and voilà, they’ve entry to your Wi-Fi.

One of the best half is, you do not even must allow something for this setting to work. Simply comply with these steps, and you will be sharing your Wi-Fi by way of a QR code like a professional:

1. Go to Settings > Community and Web.

2. Choose your Wi-Fi connection, which brings up a Community particulars web page.

3. Underneath the identify of your Wi-Fi, you may see three choices: Neglect, Disconnect, and Share.

4. Tapping Share will generate a QR code that you could share with others to hook up with your Wi-Fi.

5

Open Google Pockets immediately

The facility button is extra helpful than you assume

Lastly, I discover this characteristic important on my Android machine: opening Google Wallet with a double-press of the facility button. Launched not too long ago in Android 16, it makes funds extra handy — no must open your telephone and faucet Pockets in Fast Settings. Simply double-press the house button, and Google Pockets launches immediately for contactless funds after unlocking your telephone.

For Pixel customers, this can be a new characteristic with Android 16. At the moment, it is restricted to Google Pockets and the digital camera app on Pixel gadgets, however I hope Google will broaden this performance to all apps sooner or later. For Samsung Galaxy customers, the choice to pick any app to open with a double-press of the facility button has been accessible for some time. So, when you’ve got a Galaxy telephone, you possibly can select Google Pockets or some other app you like.

That stated, this is the right way to open Google Pockets in seconds in your Android machine:

1. Go to Settings > System > Gestures.

2. Choose Double-press the facility button.

3. Toggle on Use double press.

4. Choose Pockets.