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 obtainable and Google frequently engaged on new options, it is easy to miss a number of the extra helpful and fascinating options which were 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 may attempt them on any Android system you personal. You do not want any extra apps both, as all of those options are constructed instantly into Android’s settings menu.

1

Preserve 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 may set Lengthen Lock to unlock your telephone if you’re at dwelling. This makes it simple to shortly decide up and use your system at dwelling with out getting into a PIN or utilizing biometrics.

In fact, utilizing this characteristic requires trusting these you reside with, but when you do not have prying eyes at dwelling, it is a helpful 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 presents two extra choices: On-Physique Detection and Trusted Units. On-Physique Detection retains your telephone unlocked when you’re strolling with it, and Trusted Units unlocks it when related to a close-by trusted system, 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, observe the steps under:

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

2. Scroll down and faucet Lengthen Unlock.

3. Enter your system 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 carried out this about one million instances on my telephone: I get a notification, I have a look at it, swipe it away, after which utterly neglect about it. Fortunately, that is why Notification historical past exists. Because the title of the characteristic implies, it retains a historical past of all of the notifications you will have acquired. So, if you happen to by accident delete a notification you wish to learn, you may verify your Notification historical past to see what it was, quite than being left at midnight.

The perfect half is that enabling Notification historical past solely takes a number of seconds and saves you a variety of complications. Here is the 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 screen 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 helpful characteristic lets you pin a single app to your display screen so it could actually’t be simply swiped away. So, if you happen to’re handing your telephone over to a child, member of the family, or good friend to have a look at, and you don’t need them to pry into something in your system, this prevents that by locking one app to the display screen.

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

To check out App pinning, observe 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 screen, you may 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 through 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?” If you happen to’re uninterested in handing out your Wi-Fi password like sweet on Halloween, this Android characteristic makes it very simple to share it shortly with out the effort of typing your lengthy and probably complicated password on their telephone by sharing your Wi-Fi through 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.

The perfect half is, you do not even must allow something for this setting to work. Simply observe these steps, and you will be sharing your Wi-Fi through 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. Beneath the title of your Wi-Fi, you may see three choices: Overlook, Disconnect, and Share.

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

5

Open Google Pockets immediately

The ability button is extra helpful than you suppose

Lastly, I discover this characteristic important on my Android system: opening Google Wallet with a double-press of the ability button. Launched just lately 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. Presently, it is restricted to Google Pockets and the digicam 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 out any app to open with a double-press of the ability button has been obtainable for some time. So, you probably have a Galaxy telephone, you may select Google Pockets or another app you favor.

That mentioned, this is the way to open Google Pockets in seconds in your Android system:

1. Go to Settings > System > Gestures.

2. Choose Double-press the ability button.

3. Toggle on Use double press.

4. Choose Pockets.