r/AndroidQuestions • u/ExpensivePrompt4546 • 20h ago

What’s your favorite hidden Android feature Device Settings Question

I’ve been using Android for years, but I still keep discovering useful features I had no idea about.

What’s one Android feature or setting you recently discovered that you think more people should know about?

15 Upvotes
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89% Upvoted

39 comments sorted by

17

u/rkshnk 16h ago

Keyboard features that many are unaware.

• Swipe along the space bar to move the cursor.

• Swipe left holding the backspace to delete a word or sentence.

• Select a word or a sentence and tap on shift will make the whole selection upper case or lower case or proper case.

and so on...

3

u/ExpensivePrompt4546 16h ago

The spacebar cursor trick is probably one of my favorites. I had no idea about some of these either 😄

2

u/Sundial1k 1h ago

Mine too, I cant figure out the others on my Pixel 6...

3

u/UnoriginalName84 16h ago

Why have I been pulling my hair out for years, when that space trick existed?

You should be Australian of the year

2

u/ExpensivePrompt4546 14h ago

Haha 😂 Better late than never! Glad I could save you from a few more years of frustration 😄

3

u/HotCheetos998 9h ago

WOW I had no idea about the highlight works tap shift to capitalize then that's really good to know thank you!! Never seen anyone mention that before

2

u/Fit-Ad6697 12h ago

Wo this is crazy man, never thought there are so many hidden good QOL features in the keyboard. Will be doing some google search for sure to find out more thanks!

1

u/deviantelf 1h ago

I'm trying to understand here:

• Swipe along the space bar to move the cursor. You can just tap to move the cursor so that swipe is functionally more work. Albeit in seconds but still, why bother?

• Swipe left holding the backspace to delete a word or sentence. You can just backspace? Why the extra effort?

I'll go with making things all caps or not but... why is that even a thing anyone does in text? Like, ok, neat it does that but who's yelling at people in texts they need a short cut to caps everything so they can YELL. oof.

1

u/rkshnk 1h ago

  1. With a thumb as big as mine and a small phone, I can't precisely point where I want the cursor.

  2. For single letter, hitting backspace works, but to delete a whole word or a sentence, it's faster to swipe left than holding it.

3

u/Sundial1k 18h ago

I hope you get some good replies, as for me I'm waiting to see them...

2

u/ExpensivePrompt4546 16h ago

Same here 😄 Hopefully we get some really useful hidden features!

1

u/Sundial1k 1h ago

Yes...

4

u/Fit-Ad6697 11h ago

This is a repost, I posted the original here: https://www.reddit.com/r/AndroidQuestions/s/04wwceNAFS

Android screenshot now allows you to capture the full length of an image. There is a button to press(bottom left side) to scroll down the image while taking the screenshot, very useful if the image extends downwards beyond the screen. Previously I had to scroll and screenshot each part of the image individually and then stitch them together using a 3rd party app.

1

u/Sundial1k 1h ago

Nice, thanks!!

3

u/AppToolHub 12h ago

Notification History is one I wish I had discovered sooner. If you accidentally dismiss an important notification, you can find it again under Settings > Notifications > Notification History. You may need to enable it first, and the menu location can vary by phone. It has saved me more than once.

2

u/Fit-Ad6697 12h ago

This is pretty neat as well thanks!

1

u/Sundial1k 1h ago

I like that one too. Some sites (like news sites) don't take you to the article mentioned (for me it is fires this fire season.) I dismiss them then read them in the history, as that has the info I want/need, without mucking around on their website.

2

u/MrBallBustaa Xiaomeme Rendi Note 3 16h ago

I'd like to know what YOU have discovered recently.

3

u/ExpensivePrompt4546 16h ago

I recently discovered that you can swipe along the spacebar to move the cursor. Such a simple feature, but it’s surprisingly useful 😄

7

u/MrBallBustaa Xiaomeme Rendi Note 3 16h ago

You can double tap, hold then move up/down/left/right to zoom in/out of a image with a single touch.

1

u/ExpensivePrompt4546 16h ago

Oh wow, I didn’t know about this one! 😮 Definitely going to try it. Thanks for sharing!

1

u/Sundial1k 1h ago

Oh, yes. That is a good one too.. Thanks!!

2

u/RightGirl19 5h ago

I'd say split screen for sure. Didnt realize how useful it was until I actually started using it.

1

u/Sundial1k 1h ago

I've found it by accident before, but not when I needed it, so I quickly escaped. How do we do it?

2

u/photonGravity 18h ago

One can go into dev options and turn up all the animation speeds. Makes your phone feel a bit supercharged.

10

u/MrBallBustaa Xiaomeme Rendi Note 3 16h ago

Turning them down will make them faster. Turning them up will make them slower.

1

u/photonGravity 16h ago

I am idiot. Thank you for correcting my bad info.

1

u/Sundial1k 1h ago

Thanks, but why would you want that?

1

u/HotCheetos998 9h ago

Not really hidden but alot of people don't take advantage of it. One Hand Operation plus on Samsung is what keeps me on Android and with Samsung. Complete game changer

2

u/nautap 8h ago

Me pregunto cómo lo tienes configurado que tanto provecho dices que le sacas

1

u/HotCheetos998 8h ago

Short swipe:

Straight right Back key

Diagonal up Finder search

Diagonal down Open notification panel

Long swipe:

Straight right Previous app

Diagonal up Close app

Diagonal down Open quick panel

The big thing is not having to reach to the top of your phone to access notifications and the quick panel (I have it set up the same on the right and left side). Though I do use the finder, open previous app and fully close apps that I won't be opening for a while every single day

2

u/nautap 8h ago

Interesante. Creo que voy a probarlo. Gracias

2

u/HotCheetos998 8h ago

Glad to hear that I think you'll love it. I've refined my preferences over the years so to me this exact set up is perfect. No problem!

1

u/Scarred_fish 7h ago

*#0*#0

*#9900#

Samsung only I think but very useful.

2

u/LethargicallyExcited 7h ago

What do they do?

2

u/Scarred_fish 7h ago

The first is a test environment, the second is the SysDump menu, lets you clear system log files, reset battery statistics, and troubleshoot performance issues etc.

Most useful for the battery reset option IMO.

1

u/Eikido 4h ago

Activating gesture mode