Lock Screen App

Google has an exclusive launcher for its Pixel devices, and it's pretty slick. But even though we've found ways to get this home screen app on other phones, certain features simply wouldn't work unless you were rooted. That's finally changed. Previously, when you installed th ...more

Manufacturers like Samsung and LG have added their own implementation of multi-window features to Android for years now, but with the release of version 6.0 Marshmallow, Google has finally gotten around to working the same feature into stock Android. Don't Miss: How to Enable ...more

Thanks to Android Pie's gesture controls, features like split screen mode now take several additional steps to activate. This change is due to the revamped navigation bar which removed the recents apps button. Luckily, we can still change it back. With some tinkering in Setti ...more

Because of Android's massive array of supported smartphones that carry vastly different display sizes and resolutions, the operating system uses a value known as DPI to determine the size of icons and visual assets that will best suit a given screen. Pixel Density (or Dots Pe ...more

Some manufacturers, like Samsung and LG, have had split-screen multitasking on their custom versions of Android for years. But starting with Android Nougat, Google added this functionality to AOSP, which means that all phones and tablets running Android 7.0 or higher will now ...more

One of the biggest things that differentiates Android from iOS is the app drawer. Instead of the operating system just tossing all of your app icons into a cluttered heap on your home screen, most can be tucked away neatly in the app drawer, which, in essence, is very similar ...more

Open TikTok, and you might find yourself spending hours watching video after video. While each video is usually pretty short, it's highly possible to binge-watch hundreds at a time. It's even more fun to create your own. But as a parent, you may not want your children falling ...more

Let's face it — our phones are our heart and soul. We do everything on them, from banking to media consumption. However, sometimes we download apps that we don't want others to see. Sometimes, we wish to hide apps so that, in the rare times we lend our phone to someone, we don ...more

Depending on who you ask, internet connectivity should be a basic human right. With Google recently embarking on a project to provide internet capabilities to remote corners of the world using balloons and satellites while Facebook attempts to do the same with unmanned drones, ...more

When the Galaxy S6 hype-train was building momentum ahead of the phone's release, many reports had Samsung cutting back on its much-maligned TouchWiz skin. In the end, these reports were either highly exaggerated or entirely fabricated, because while not as egregious as previo ...more

Screen mirroring was a long-awaited feature for the Chromecast, now available for select devices (and even more with root). While great news for those who couldn't wait to play games, watch movies, and browse pictures on a big screen, it did mean that you had to keep your devi ...more

Multitasking has traditionally been one of Android's strengths. As the first mobile operating system to introduce true multi-process management, it even took things a step further after version 4.0 by dedicating a button to your recently-used apps. With the release of Windows ...more

If you have more than two home screen pages on your iPhone, jumping back to the main page can seem like a lot of unnecessary swiping. For example, an eight-page home screen would take seven right-swipes to get back from the last page to the main page — but it doesn't have to t ...more

One of the biggest advantages of the front-mounted ultrasonic fingerprint sensor found on the Galaxy S10 and S10+ is that you no longer have to physically pick up your device and reach around the back to unlock it. Instead, you simply place your finger on the screen for easier ...more

Biometrics have a major flaw: they don't work well with personal protective equipment. Whether it's a mask obscuring facial recognition or gloves blocking the fingerprint scanner, it's a lot harder to unlock your phone when you're wearing the proper PPE. Thankfully, there are ...more

One of the standout features of Nova Launcher is its vast customization options. Not only does it includes numerous tweaks to alter the aesthetics of your home screen, but it even has plenty of features that reduce clutter. One area of our device that has a high potential for ...more

Android has a permission that allows apps to draw on top of other apps, but as fun as that may sound, it has mostly been used to create floating multitasking utilities. While these can certainly be useful, it would still be nice if this permission were taken literally and we c ...more

Needing to use your device in bright or low lighting can require an adjustment in the phone's built-in brightness settings. However, there are times when those default settings just don't do the trick. If you are expecting an important email and want to check your phone durin ...more

You know the drill: After booting up your iPhone, you need to swipe up or press the Home button, then punch in the passcode to unlock Face ID or Touch ID. It's the way things have always been — but it doesn't have to be. Instead, you can unlock your iPhone using just your voic ...more

HTC's Sense UI is generally regarded as one of the best manufacturer-skinned versions of Android. This is mainly due to the subtle and classy styling of the interface, as well as some unique features that are added in here and there. One of the most central features of Sense ...more

TWRP has been the king of custom recovery on Android for years now, thanks to device compatibility and core features. But there's a new player in town — at least, for OnePlus devices — and it's got a lot of useful features that might finally get you to ditch TWRP. Sky Hawk Re ...more

Seven days ago, Apple released the first public beta for iOS 12.2. Now, public testers have access to the latest beta update since Apple released 12.2 public beta 2 on Tuesday, Feb. 5. The company released the developer beta one day earlier, which includes bug fixes, new Animo ...more

At last month's I/O event, Google demonstrated a set of cool new features that were said to be coming to the Chromecast soon. While we may not be able to set custom backgrounds or cast content without being on the same WiFi network just yet, the biggest feature of them all has ...more

The idle screen for the Chromecast is certainly beautiful. Full of many high-definition pictures taken of various parts of the world, it's almost a shame that we have to dismiss this screen in order to cast content. The folks over at RiR Software love this idle screen, too. S ...more

Google's Pixel lineup hangs its hat on smooth software and a polished UI. At the core of this experience is the Pixel Launcher, a home screen app that is often imitated, but never perfectly duplicated. That is, until developer AmirZ released the latest version of his Rootless ...more

I don't know about you, but I love options. Personally, I think Android's notification system is easy to use — providing access to new notification with a swipe down from the top of the screen. But, as Android users, we like the ability to do things differently whenever we see ...more

Xiaomi made a new phone with their sights set on picking up some ex OnePlus users. As a result, the Pocophone F1, or just Poco in some markets, is quite unlike most other Xiaomi phones. While you can't buy the F1 in stores in the US, you can get its home screen app on almost a ...more

With the Galaxy S5's root bounty over $18,000 and climbing, there's still no Superuser in sight. That doesn't mean we can't tweak and personalize our shiny new toys, though. Several customization options are available just by virtue of the S5's Android base, and installing a c ...more

Samsung reintroduced its well regarded Good Lock app, so now you can tweak parts of your Galaxy's interface without the need for root or other labor-intensive mods. Thanks to an awesome add-on, you can even tidy up you phone's status bar — so if you've always wanted to get rid ...more

Starting with version 6.0 Marshmallow, Android now supports fingerprint scanners natively. This change has effectively opened the floodgates, and now almost every flagship Android device includes a fingerprint scanner out of the box. But if you passed up on the opportunity to ...more

Native screen recording was initially introduced on Android 4.4 KitKat and, although useful, was primarily utilized by developers to showcase their apps. It required either a rooted device and an app or a non-rooted device with some ADB commands, which, while totally doable, w ...more

When Yahoo! purchased the home screen replacement app Aviate back in January, many were wondering if the internet giant intended to continue development of the launcher or if the transaction was just another acqui-hire. Those questions have been answered today, as Yahoo has r ...more

With email, one size does not typically fit all. You have multiple email accounts, each for different purposes and with varying levels of importance, so it only makes sense to customize the way your phone alerts you to each account's incoming emails. Luckily, Outlook allows yo ...more

Google TV gives the new Chromecast a home screen full of curated content from your various streaming subscriptions, but it's just that — a home screen app. Underneath, Google's new dongle is running Android TV, meaning its home screen is just a launcher that can be installed o ...more

App switchers are a great way to conveniently access your favorite applications from any screen, but most limit the number of apps you can use. That means that whenever you want to switch over to another app, you have to leave your current one, and either find the one you want ...more

Samsung's popular Good Lock app has been updated to work on One UI and now lets you take full advantage of its awesome add-ons to customize your S10 in a few simple taps. One add-on in particular lets you get rid of mostly redundant indicators like the NFC "N" for a cleaner st ...more

Why unlock your Samsung Galaxy S3 to use with a different SIM card? One possible reason is that you love your phone, but not your cellular provider because of the poor service or an unreliable connection. If you purchased a Samsung GS3 with AT&T, T-Mobile, etc. on a contract, ...more

Since iOS 11, your iPhone has been capable of offloading hardly used apps to free up storage space for more useful data. But offloading only gets rid of the app's binary, meaning its documents and data are stored on your device in case you reinstall the app. That can take up a ...more

When it comes to your security, you want the best of the best. Why settle for mediocre service with something as valuable as your protection? Malware continues to make its way onto the Play Store, leaving millions of devices vulnerable. You need an app that will shield your de ...more

Apple has changed how home screen shortcuts work on iOS, which makes one of the most enjoyable customization features even better than before. Since iOS 13, you could use the Shortcuts app to customize your iPhone's home screen app icons to pretty much anything. The feature r ...more

Android Pie is bringing in plenty of changes, but the headlining feature is a set of navigation gestures like the iPhone X uses. With Android 9.0, you can now navigate through your phone using a total of seven new swipe gestures. The gesture controls are not enabled by defaul ...more

Now that Google Meet is free for anyone with a Gmail address, you can expect to see invites from Google's service alongside Zoom calls. Meet is a very streamlined take on video conferencing that manages to provide all of the prerequisites that you'd need to host a video meeti ...more

The Android 9 Pie update brought a lot of visual changes, some of which are a little too reminiscent of iOS. There's the new gesture controls, which are okay, but then there are things like a left-justified clock and the fact that the recent apps menu now scrolls horizontally ...more

Adjusting the brightness on your Samsung Galaxy S3 can be a real pain sometimes. Each app you open may need a different amount of light to better optimize its use of the screen, and then you have to worry about it potentially eating up your battery life if it's too bright. We ...more

Wordle has been popping up all over in the app stores, but none of them are the real Wordle. The popular word game app has amassed two million users since its launch in November 2021 but has no plans to hit the iOS App Store or Play Store any time soon — but you can still inst ...more

The stock home screen app that comes with your phone is nothing compared to Nova Launcher. Not only is Nova faster, but it's got tons of customization tweaks like gestures, adjustable grid sizes, and icon packs, just to name a few. In fact, the only area where stock launchers ...more

If you've ever wondered how to import your photos in Snapseed, then you've come to the right place. Snapseed is a wonderful photo-editing app and will provide you with many tools to take your photos to the next level. But you can't get to that next level if you don't know how ...more

You can make Siri do all kinds of things it was never designed to do. From installing it on older jailbroken iDevices to using it to bypass an iPhone's lock screen, people have managed to come up with some interesting hacks—and that's only the beginning. Raspberry Pi Forums m ...more

Windows 8 comes with a bunch of new features, and none may be cooler than the new Picture Password option. If you're tired of the old lock screen and login options, or don't want to remember any more passwords, than you'll like this great new addition to Windows. By using a p ...more

Some phones have a feature that turns your screen white for a second when you're taking a selfie in dim lighting. This does a great job of illuminating your face in a pinch, but there are two problems with it: First, not all phones have the feature, and second, it doesn't work ...more

Your iPhone's home screen just got a whole lot more exciting thanks to iOS 14, which is finally giving Android a run for its money in terms of home screen customization. What's new? Widgets in three different sizes, a new searchable App Library, and most importantly, the abili ...more

Bookmarks and favorites are handy options for saving interesting websites you come across while surfing the web on Android but are far from ideal when it comes to instant access. Thankfully, Google Chrome gives you the added ability to save webpages and progressive web apps di ...more

Google just released Android 9.0 Pie, but the Android community is already working its magic. Developer Quinny899 quickly ported the updated Pixel Launcher from the new build, so you can try it out on other phones right now. The only requirements here are that you're running ...more

The Nexus 7 is a huge jump in screen size when coming from a phone, but obviously this tablet is still smaller than some of the major players such as the Nexus 10, Galaxy Tab, etc. One way to squeeze out a little more space is to eliminate the navigation and status bars. Nels ...more

The iPhone has come a long way in its ten-year lifespan, but one thing still missing from the core user experience is native split-screen support. Sure, the displays on iPhones aren't nearly as large as an iPad's screen — which does offer "Split View" mode out of the box — but ...more

Sometimes, you just don't want to hit the Power button to turn your screen off. In the current age of touchscreens, you've got to wonder why we even have physical keys anymore. There are actually plenty alternatives to using the Power button on your Samsung Galaxy S3. You cou ...more

Pixels and other near-stock Android phones have the Google Feed baked into their home screen, but sadly, the default OnePlus Launcher doesn't. Even more disappointing is the fact that the OnePlus Launcher actually has the Google Feed code built into it, but it's not activated. ...more

With the re-emergence of Samsung's Good Lock app, you're once again able to tweak parts of your Galaxy's interface with no root or major modifications required. One add-on in particular even lets you fully customize the Quick Settings panel on your S8, S9, or Note 8 in a full ...more

Notifications are an integral part of our day-to-day smartphone usage. They allow us to easily see and act upon all of the latest information that comes our way. Well, most of the time, that is. When using a full-screen app or game, Android's notification bar is hidden, and a ...more

Now that Android 7.1.1 has been released, several features that were previously exclusive to Google's new Pixel phones are now available on the Nexus 6P. However, Google seems to be holding back on the Pixel's best features, as things like the "Night Light" red screen filter, ...more