When you open the Android settings menu, on every smartphone with this operating system including the Samsung Galaxy, Huawei, LG, HTC etc., there is a world of things, clearly larger than that of an iPhone, which remains largely part hidden within the phone and application settings.
For those with less experience, in this article we discover some of the most significant improvements that can be configured on Android, present in almost all phones, easy to activate to make everything easier.
These are often hidden personalizations and functions, which are very useful to activate.
The following guide is based on Android 7, but the various improvements should still be activated on Android 6 and Android 8 or later.
READ ALSO: The most useful hidden internal functions of Android
1) Enable Chrome Home (address bar at the bottom of Chrome).
Chrome Home is, at the moment, an experimental improvement of Chrome that can be enabled from the experiments menu.
This feature brings the address bar down, making it significantly more convenient for typing even when you pick up the phone with one hand.
To make this change to Chrome on every Android phone you have to open the browser on the page with the address chrome: // flags .
Once the Flags page is open, press the menu button at the top right, touch the Find and search for Home .
Then activate the Chrome Home and Modern Layout for Chrome Home options .
Restart Chrome and discover the convenience of the address bar and the search located at the bottom instead of at the top.
READ ALSO: Change the home tab of Chrome on Android and iPhone
2) Quickly open the camera
On any Android smartphone, you can take a photo as you would a compact camera, by pressing a quick key, without unlocking the phone and looking for the application icon on the main screen.
In Android Settings, scroll down until you find the Gestures options and activate the switch that allows you to open the camera by pressing the power button twice from any screen in quick succession.
With this option activated, you can start the camera at any time with a double tap of the power button.
3) Hide important notifications from the lock screen
The notifications, by default, all appear on the lock screen, including SMS messages, those received in Whatsapp, Email and Facebook.
However, previewing messages on the lock screen can be a privacy issue if we have people around, at home or at school, who can read them.
To hide the content of notifications from the lock screen, go to Settings> Notifications to bring up the list of all applications.
From here, tap the gear icon at the top right to find the option that sensitive notification content is hidden on the lock screen.
Alternatively, you can touch on the apps you prefer to keep private in order to hide notifications from the lock screen only for those.
On Android before version 7 this option is found in Settings > Sound and notifications > Lock screen > When the device is locked .
4) Prevent adding app icons on the main screen after installation
Whenever you install a new app from the Play Store, its icon automatically appears on the main screen.
If we are people who like to keep the phone screen tidy, it is much better to disable this automatic function.
To do this, open the Google Play Store, scroll from left to right to open the main menu, open Settings and disable the " Add icons to Home screen " option.
5) Automatically delete photos backed up to Google Photos
Google Photos is that fantastic Google service that automatically backs up photos and videos to the free cloud space made available.
In Google Photos there is therefore the option to free up space by deleting the photos saved from the device memory, but it is an action to be performed manually.
Much better, then, to make sure that the backed up and secured photos are automatically deleted, thus always leaving free space in the internal memory.
This will automatically delete photos and videos backed up to Google Photos after 90 days.
This option is found in Settings> Storage, then pressing on Manage storage (or Smart Storage).
To use this improvement, you must first install Google Photos and authorize it to automatically back up your photos and videos.
For those with less experience, in this article we discover some of the most significant improvements that can be configured on Android, present in almost all phones, easy to activate to make everything easier.
These are often hidden personalizations and functions, which are very useful to activate.
The following guide is based on Android 7, but the various improvements should still be activated on Android 6 and Android 8 or later.
READ ALSO: The most useful hidden internal functions of Android
1) Enable Chrome Home (address bar at the bottom of Chrome).
Chrome Home is, at the moment, an experimental improvement of Chrome that can be enabled from the experiments menu.
This feature brings the address bar down, making it significantly more convenient for typing even when you pick up the phone with one hand.
To make this change to Chrome on every Android phone you have to open the browser on the page with the address chrome: // flags .
Once the Flags page is open, press the menu button at the top right, touch the Find and search for Home .
Then activate the Chrome Home and Modern Layout for Chrome Home options .
Restart Chrome and discover the convenience of the address bar and the search located at the bottom instead of at the top.
READ ALSO: Change the home tab of Chrome on Android and iPhone
2) Quickly open the camera
On any Android smartphone, you can take a photo as you would a compact camera, by pressing a quick key, without unlocking the phone and looking for the application icon on the main screen.
In Android Settings, scroll down until you find the Gestures options and activate the switch that allows you to open the camera by pressing the power button twice from any screen in quick succession.
With this option activated, you can start the camera at any time with a double tap of the power button.
3) Hide important notifications from the lock screen
The notifications, by default, all appear on the lock screen, including SMS messages, those received in Whatsapp, Email and Facebook.
However, previewing messages on the lock screen can be a privacy issue if we have people around, at home or at school, who can read them.
To hide the content of notifications from the lock screen, go to Settings> Notifications to bring up the list of all applications.
From here, tap the gear icon at the top right to find the option that sensitive notification content is hidden on the lock screen.
Alternatively, you can touch on the apps you prefer to keep private in order to hide notifications from the lock screen only for those.
On Android before version 7 this option is found in Settings > Sound and notifications > Lock screen > When the device is locked .
4) Prevent adding app icons on the main screen after installation
Whenever you install a new app from the Play Store, its icon automatically appears on the main screen.
If we are people who like to keep the phone screen tidy, it is much better to disable this automatic function.
To do this, open the Google Play Store, scroll from left to right to open the main menu, open Settings and disable the " Add icons to Home screen " option.
5) Automatically delete photos backed up to Google Photos
Google Photos is that fantastic Google service that automatically backs up photos and videos to the free cloud space made available.
In Google Photos there is therefore the option to free up space by deleting the photos saved from the device memory, but it is an action to be performed manually.
Much better, then, to make sure that the backed up and secured photos are automatically deleted, thus always leaving free space in the internal memory.
This will automatically delete photos and videos backed up to Google Photos after 90 days.
This option is found in Settings> Storage, then pressing on Manage storage (or Smart Storage).
To use this improvement, you must first install Google Photos and authorize it to automatically back up your photos and videos.
