If you’ve watched a vlog on YouTube in the past couple of years, you’ve probably seen a time lapse. A time lapse is made by speeding up a slow-moving scene in video (see the GIF above). Common examples include clouds moving, sunset, traffic, and plants growing. You can create your own visually stunning time lapse with your Android phone.

A time lapse is basically just a long video sped up into a shorter video, but that’s not the way you should do it. Time lapse apps will record short clips in intervals and stitch them together. The advantage of this method is you don’t have to deal with super long videos with giant file sizes. You will still have to put your phone in one spot for an extended time.

Read Also: Things to do with an old Android phone, Turn an old phone into a Google Home

What You’ll Need

Since you’ll need to keep your phone in an undisturbed spot for a long time, this is a great reason to break out an unused old phone. That way you won’t be without a phone while you’re recording the time lapse. Obviously, you’ll want a phone with a decent camera, but don’t worry about filming in 4K unless you’re super serious.

The most important thing you’ll need is a time lapse app. Some phones have a time lapse feature built right into the main camera app. If you have a new-ish Samsung, LG, or HTC phone, there’s a good chance you already have the feature.

1. Open the camera app
2. Switch camera modes
3. Look for “time lapse” or “hyper lapse”

If you don’t see anything like that in your camera app, you’ll need to download a 3rd-party app from the Play Store. Thankfully, there are plenty of great time lapse apps available. Try one of these apps:

• Framelapse
• Microsoft Hyperlapse
• Lapse It
• Time Lapse Camera

How to take a Time Lapse

Now that you have the appropriate tools, it’s time to actually record the time lapse. The first thing you need is a good subject to record. Anything that moves slowly will look great in a time lapse. This could be the movement of clouds, a building being constructed, the sun setting, a busy intersection, etc.

The next thing you need is a stable place to set your phone. A tripod with a phone mount is the obvious choice, but you can literally use anything to prop up your phone. If you want to get really fancy, you can get a panning tripod mount to pan across the time lapse. A stable, static spot is a good place to start.

Some apps will allow you to adjust the frame intervals and speed. Frame interval is the amount of time between recorded frames. For a short recording, you’ll want shorter intervals. A longer recording can have longer intervals. This is something you’ll have to tinker with to find the best results.

That’s it!

Taking a time lapse is not rocket science. Once you have the phone set up, it’s basically just a matter of hitting record and waiting. For the best results, you’ll want to record for a long time. The clouds moving across the sky for 12 hours is going to be much more dramatic than just an hour. Check out this example of a time lapse I made a few winters ago.

The post How to take an awesome time lapse with your Android phone appeared first on Phandroid.

Google did not create Android

Nowadays Google and Android are synonymous with each other, but you may be surprised to find out that was not always the case. Android was founded in 2003 by Andy Rubin, Rich Miner, Nick Sears, and Chris White. The founders had strong ties to T-Mobile. Andy Rubin created the ultra-popular T-Mobile Sidekick, and Nick Sears was vice president at T-Mobile. So you can see why T-Mobile landed the first Android phone.

It wasn’t until 2005 that Google acquired Android Inc. Rubin, Miner, and White all stayed with Android through the acquisition. Together they developed what we now know as the Android OS. In fact Rubin’s nickname is where the name “Android” came from. Many people consider Android to be one of Google’s best acquisitions. 10 years after the acquisition Android has ballooned to control 85% of the smartphone OS market share.

Many critics felt Android would fail miserably

Android is nearly universally praised nowadays, but back in the day critics were a lot more skeptical. At the time of Android’s emergence the iPhone was fresh and Microsoft and Blackberry were leading the way in smartphones. The idea of a web search and email company making phones didn’t seem like a slam dunk.

In late 2008 during a round-table discussion about mobile the question was asked “we have to talk about Android, right?” A member from Pandora adamantly responded  “Why? Why do we have to talk about Android – nobody cares.” Obviously Pandora eventually wised up and created an Android app.

Check out this comment from a Wired article that named the G1 one of 2008’s worst cell phones. “The G1’s unveiling was a lot like the Bigfoot press conference — a long, awkward presentation that left a lot of people confused and/or disappointed. The handset poised to out-iPhone the iPhone had a laundry list of hardware letdowns: bulky, unattractive, and saddled with yet another proprietary headphone jack.”

The first Android prototype looked like a Blackberry

Many people believe that if it wasn’t for the iPhone the first Android device would have looked drastically different. In 2007, before Apple showed off the original iPhone, the first Android prototype was floating around. The device called “Sooner” had a portrait keyboard, call and end buttons, track pad, and no touchscreen. The Android UI even resembled the Blackberry interface.

Then the iPhone was announced. It had no physical keyboard, a big display for the time, and a revolutionary touchscreen interface. The next Android device we saw after that, the T-Mobile G1, also had a big display and a touchscreen interface. The Blackberry-esque prototype never came to market. We can’t say for certain that the iPhone had any effect on Google’s vision for Android, but it wouldn’t be out of the question.

Android 1.0 and 1.1 were not named after desserts

For a long time Google has been nicknaming new versions of Android with desserts. At the time of this article we are at Android 5.0 “Lollipop,’ and before that it was KitKat, Jelly Bean, Ice Cream Sandwich, and so on. Android fans are always trying to predict what the next name will be. Google even got in on the fun with this teaser video for Android 5.0.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AlEE3hXJe5o

What you may not know is the first couple versions of Android were not named after desserts. Android 1.0 was sometimes called “Alpha” or “Astro Boy.” Android 1.1 kind has a dessert name, but not in the order that we know today. It was known internally as “Petit Four,” which is a small French appetizer. Android 1.5 “Cupcake” was the first version to have an official dessert nickname.

The “A” and “B” dessert names for Android 1.0 and 1.1 will never be known. If we had to guess which names they would have used we would go with “Apple Pie” and “Banana Split.” What would you guess?

Android 3.0 is the only version to never run on phones

In 2015 we know that Android is built to run on many different types of devices. Android 5.0 can run on phones, tablets, watches, cars, and TVs. That hasn’t always been the case. In 2010 the world got tablet fever when Apple announced the original iPad. Android manufacturers wanted to cash in on the tablet frenzy, but Android was only made for phones at that time.

Samsung had some luck using Android 2.3 Gingerbread on the mid-sized Galaxy Tab 7.0, but if Android was going to compete with the 10-inch iPad it needed some major work. At CES 2011 the world got its first look at Android 3.0 Honeycomb on the Motorola XOOM. It had a completely redesigned interface made especially for tablets.

If there is an Android version that can be called a failure it would be Honeycomb. Every manufacturer on the face of the Earth was making Android tablets, but they were expensive and lacked apps. Google eventually scrapped Honeycomb and built future versions of Android to work on all screen sizes. One of the lasting features of Honeycomb is the virtual nav buttons we still use today.

The first Android device didn’t even have a virtual keyboard or 3.5mm headset jack

If you would go back to 2008 and tell the world that nearly all phones in the future won’t have physical keyboards you would be laughed out of the building. At that time the most popular phone was a Blackberry, which of course has an iconic keyboard. The idea of a device without a keyboard didn’t become popular until the original iPhone, but even then there were many skeptics.

Even the first Android device, the T-Mobile G1, came with a slide-out physical keyboard, but you might be more surprised to learn what it didn’t have. The G1 shipped with Android 1.1 and no virtual keyboard. You had to use the physical keyboard to type, which meant you couldn’t do any one-handed typing. The G1 finally got a virtual keyboard six months later with Android 1.5.

The other thing the G1 didn’t have could not be fixed with a software update. HTC inexplicably did not include a traditional 3.5mm headphone jack in the G1. Instead, it came with a proprietary adapter you had to use. This was a common complaint in reviews for the G1.

Android got Google’s CEO kicked off Apple’s board

The relationship between Google and Apple hasn’t always been so strained. The iPhone used to come with Google Maps and YouTube apps. Over time as competition between iOS and Android has picked up the companies have become not so friendly. This was most evident in 2009 when Google CEO Eric Schmidt was forced to resign from Apple’s board of directors. Steve Jobs had this to say:

“Unfortunately, as Google enters more of Apple’s core businesses, with Android and now Chrome OS, Eric’s effectiveness as an Apple board member will be significantly diminished, since he will have to recuse himself from even larger portions of our meetings due to potential conflicts of interest.”

You can imagine there were a lot of sensational headlines about this story, but it makes a lot of sense. What good is a board member that can’t be present at meetings due to a conflict of interest?

WebOS could have destroyed Android, but…

As we’ve already gone over, people were a bit skeptical of Android at the beginning. WebOS, on the other hand, was universally praised and adored when it was announced. At that time there were very few Android devices in the world. By the time WebOS launched Android 1.5 was still fresh and no one had heard of the Motorola DROID.

The timing was perfect for WebOS to stomp out Android and be the true contender to iOS, at least that’s what the critics thought. It could have happened if it wasn’t for some strange decisions by Palm. They launched the first WebOS device on Sprint instead of one of the big carriers, and the marketing campaign was very strange. Still, the Palm Pre sold very well the first month, but dropped off majorly after that.

A couple of months later Verizon announced the Motorola DROID and Apple was onto to the iPhone 3GS. Palm and WebOS fizzled out, Google continued to improve Android, and now it’s a mobile powerhouse. Google even hired the designer of WebOS, Matias Duarte, to improve Android’s interface and design.

Sony made the first Android smartwatch in 2010

In 2014 Google announced Android Wear, a special version of Android for smartwatches. Since then we’ve seen a bunch of Android smartwatches flood the market. You might think that these are the first Android smartwatches to be made, but one company beat everyone to the punch.

Way back in 2010 Sony (Ericsson) launched the LiveView watch. It connected to Android phones to display Twitter feeds, RSS feeds, SMS, and control the phone’s media player. In 2013 Sony launched the SmartWatch 2 with many of the same features. It wasn’t until this time that Samsung launched their first Android smartwatch. Sony had everyone beat.

Phandroid is the first Android-focused website in the world

On November 5th 2007 Google officially announced Android. On that very same day, the first post on Phandroid.com was published. We’ve been reporting on Android news for over 7 years. Wired.com even wrote a short article about Phandroid, saying “Android already has Phandroids.”

Here’s a rough look at what Phandroid looked like back then. The site has changed a lot over the years, but one thing hasn’t: our dedication to Android. No one has been doing this longer than us and we plan on keeping it that way. Whether you’ve been here since the beginning or just started reading we hope you stick around to see what else Android has to offer.

***

Did you know all of these things? What was the first Android device you owned? What version of Android did it run? Share your Android stories with us below!

The post 10 surprising Android facts you probably didn’t know appeared first on Phandroid.

Looking directly at the sun is always bad, but there’s usually nothing exciting to draw your eye. The eclipse will make it very tempting to look at the sun. Don’t do it. You can permanently damage your eyes. The best way to view the eclipse is with special glasses or a pinhole viewer. But what about taking a photo of the eclipse with your phone?

Is it safe?

Every 4th of July there are thousands of photos of fireworks uploaded to Instagram. People are going to do the same thing with the eclipse. However, the sun can potentially damage your camera. There are a few tips you should know before taking a selfie with the sun.

Smartphone cameras have very small lenses that don’t let in enough light to do major damage. Most cameras also come with UV filters that block some of the visible light from hitting the sensor. Smartphones generally have very short exposure times as well.

However, some of the more recent smartphones have larger and faster lenses. Any phone with a f/1.7 to f/2.0 lens is more likely to be damaged. This includes the Samsung Galaxy S8, LG G6, and others. Chances are it will be fine if you just take a quick photo or a selfie, but you should know there is a chance the eclipse could ruin your camera.

Taking a Photo With Your Smartphone

Here are some important tips to consider if you’re going to take a photo of the eclipse with your smartphone.

• Don’t hold your phone directly up to the sun. Your phone won’t block the sun enough and you could damage your eyes. Instead, hold the phone at an angle so you can see the screen without looking toward the sun. Taking a selfie or using your front camera is a good idea because your back will be to the sun.
• Don’t use auto-focus to take the photo. Your camera will have a hard time focusing on the moon. Tap the moon to focus or use your camera’s focus slider.
• Adjust the exposure until you see details on the moon. You can usually adjust the exposure by tapping the screen and sliding your finger up and down. If not, check the pro mode tools.
• Digitial zoom will result in a blurry, pixelated view of the eclipse. This is a perfect time to use a zoom lens attachment for your phone. You will want something around 12x to 18x to get the best shot. A pair of binoculars may also work.
• Use a tripod to take the photo. It’s hard to keep the camera steady when you’re zoomed in very far. Just make sure to protect the lens until it’s time to snap the photo. Consider using a timer on the camera so it has time to stop vibrating after you touch the button.

TL;DR: Be aware that you could do damage to your camera. Don’t point your phone at the eclipse for too long. Use a zoom lens attachment and a tripod. Adjust the exposure and don’t use autofocus.

Check out this guide from NASA if you want more information about photographing the eclipse. How are you going to watch the eclipse? How much of the sun will be covered in your area?

The post How to take Solar Eclipse photos with smartphones appeared first on Phandroid.

Dash cams became popular in countries where insurance fraud is widespread. Drivers use dash cams to prove that their insurance claims are legit. Here in the US, dash cams are catching on as a way to prove innocence in an accident. Dash cams have also caught some amazing things on camera. Whatever the reason may be, a dash cam can be an incredibly handy thing to have.

What You’ll Need

To make your own dash cam, you really only need a phone and a recording app. However, to really make the dash cam useful, you’ll want some kind of car mount and a charging cable for your phone. The mount needs to be able to put the phone at an angle that can see the road ahead of you. Something like this would be perfect. Any USB car charger will do.

The phone you use isn’t super important. Any device with a camera will work. Anything that can do 480p or above will be perfect. The most important piece of the puzzle is the dash cam app. If you use the built-in camera on your phone you’ll make massive video files. A dash cam app is more intelligent about how it records.

You want an app that has a “Retain” feature. This allows you to tap a button after something happens and save the previous user-determined minutes of footage. That way you won’t have to store hours of footage, but it does mean you have to be able to take action after something happens. Here are a few apps to try:

• DailyRoads Voyager
• AutoGuard Dash Cam
• AutoBoy Dash Cam
• Car DVR & GPS
• CarooO

How It Works

Setting up your new dash cam is simple. Attach your car mount to your dashboard or windshield. Put your phone in the mount and make sure it has a clear view of the road ahead. Plug in the phone charger to make sure the battery is always topped off and ready to record.

Get to know the dash cam app before you go for a spin. You don’t want to be fiddling with a touchscreen while you’re driving. Configure a specific amount of storage space and film time to retain. 10 minutes should be long enough to catch anything that happens, even if you don’t hit the retain button right away. That’s pretty much all there is to it.

Having a dash cam isn’t very exciting for 99% of time. But you’ll be glad you have it for those 1% situations. Having a phone on your dash is also a great way to make time lapses. Next time you’re in an accident or a cute family of ducks crosses the road, you’ll have video to back it up.

The post How to turn your Android phone into a dash cam appeared first on Phandroid.

For a brief period of time, before smartphones really took off, everyone had a personal music player. These devices were essentially hard drives with headphone jacks. You could store tons of music and have it with you all the time. Nowadays, most people stream music from the internet, but there are advantages to having a dedicated device.

Should I do this?

For all the advantages of streaming music, there is one thing that a lot of people have to deal with: data caps. Streaming music all day over data is going to cost you a pretty penny. You could download the music for listening offline, but then you have to worry about storage.

A dedicated device solves both problems. You can avoid streaming by downloading music for offline listening, and since the device is only for music, you won’t have to share storage with all your other apps. Use a phone with an microSD card and you’ve got room for a giant music library.

Another problem with using your phone as a media player is battery life. Playing music all day can run down your battery, leaving you stuck without a phone at the end of a day. A dedicated device won’t drain your phone and it will last a lot longer because it’s not connected to data.

What You’ll Need

All you need for this is an old phone with decent audio quality. The HTC One M8 is a great candidate. It has dual front-facing speakers, dedicated sound processing, and headphone amplifier units. Plus, you can find it for less than $200. The phone should also have a good amount of internal storage or support for a microSD card. Oh, and you’ll want a decent pair of headphones.

Start from Scratch

We want to start fresh with a phone that has nothing else on it. The easiest way to do that is wipe it clean and go back to factory settings. The process is slightly different on some phones, but it should go something like this:

1. Go to Settings > Backup & reset
2. Select Factory data reset
3. Confirm that you want to do it and make sure to delete ALL data

After the factory reset is completed, you can set up the phone again. Don’t use a saved backup from a different phone. You want to set up the phone completely clean. It’s also a good idea to remove any extraneous apps. Learn how to remove apps right here.

Download Media Apps

Now that we have a clean canvas to work from, we can download some media apps. This is where you’ll have to decide what kind of music player you want. Are you going to download offline music from streaming apps? Or are you going to load it up with local files from your PC?

Most of the popular streaming services, such as Spotify and Google Play Music, allow you to download for offline playback. You’ll just have to remember to download music for offline listening before you leave the WiFi network. In the example of Spotify, you’ll also be paying a monthly subscription to use the offline feature.

• Spotify
• Google Play Music
• Amazon Prime Music
• Deezer
• Slacker Radio

The second method doesn’t require monthly subscriptions, but it’s not as convenient. Putting all your music directly on your device means it’s always available for listening. There’s no need to remember to download music for when you’re offline. The downside is you’ll have to connect your phone to a PC for transferring files.

Apps like doubleTwist make it easy to sync files between your phone and PC. Regardless of how you get the music onto the phone, a good audio player is a must. Phone always have audio players built in, but they’re usually not very good. Check out these audio players.

• Poweramp
• Phonograph
• Pulsar
• Rocket Player
• BlackPlayer

Get Extra Storage

As more and more services have moved to the cloud, storage on phones has become less of an issue. We took steps to clear up space on your phone, but if you have a big music library you’re going to want some extra storage. You can add an extra 32GB to your phone for less than $15 or go crazy and get 128GB. Grab one of the SD cards below and load it up with tunes.

• SanDisk Ultra 32GB
• SanDisk Ultra 64GB
• SanDisk Ultra 128GB
• Samsung EVO Select 32GB
• Samsung EVO Select 64GB
• Samsung EVO Select 128GB

That’s it!

Now that we have everything set up, we can enjoy some music. Plug in some headphones, connect to your car stereo, link up with a set of portable speakers. All of your music is at your fingertips, and you don’t have to worry about data caps, storage, or battery life. If you’re feeling really adventurous, you could add some movies and you’ve got a sweet little multimedia device.

The post How to turn your old Android phone into a standalone music player appeared first on Phandroid.

Uninstall vs Disable

Before we get started, you should understand there are two methods to remove an Android app. Most of the apps on your phone can be “uninstalled.” This action completely removes the app from your device. Apps that have been downloaded from the Play Store can be easily uninstalled. However, bloatware that comes pre-loaded on your device will most likely need the second method.

Bloatware apps usually need to be “disabled.” A disabled app is still technically installed on your device, but it can’t run and it won’t show up in your app drawer. For all intents and purposes, the app is gone. Disabling an app doesn’t require root access or any fancy hacking. It’s a feature built into Android to help you combat bloatware. So let’s use it!

How to Disable Android Apps

The easiest way to remove bloatware is to go where all of your apps are listed.

1. Open Settings > Apps
2. Select the app you want to remove
3. You’ll see two buttons: Force stop and Disable (or Uninstall)
4. Tap Disable (or Uninstall)
5. Select YES

That’s it! It’s a good idea to Force stop the app and Clear Data while you’re on the app info page. To re-enable an app, simply visit the app page again and tap Enable.

Some phones will allow you to uninstall or disable apps directly from the app drawer. Samsung and LG phones have this feature built-in to the default home screen launcher. To should work something like this:

1. Open the app drawer to see all of your apps
2. Tap the three-dot menu icon in the top right
3. Select Edit
4. Tap the minus icon on any app you’d like to Disable or Uninstall
5. Tap DONE

These methods will work for most bloatware apps, but you may run across apps that can’t even be disabled. It’s usually not a good idea to remove those apps. However, there is a way to do it if your root your device.

How to Freeze Apps

For this method, you will need to have a rooted device. For a guide to rooting your phone, check AndroidForums.com. 99% of bloatware apps can be removed without going this hardcore. If you’re dead set on clearing everything out, “freezing” is the safest way to do it. Freezing an app is essentially the same as disabling. It will still be on your device, but it won’t be able to do anything.

Titanium Backup is still the best app for freezing apps. You’ll need the $6 pro version to do the job. Freezing or disabling important apps can make your phone very unstable. Proceed with caution.

1. Open Titanium Backup (grant root access if you haven’t)
2. Go to the Backup/Restore tab
3. Find the app you want to freeze
4. Tap the FREEZE! button
   1. Note: You will see a UNINSTALL! button, bit we highly recommend against using it. Freezing is the safest method.
5. If successful, you’ll see a message pop up

Like before, to unfreeze an app simply follow the same steps. This time you’ll tap the DEFROST button.

More Android 101 Guides

• 7 cool tricks every Android phone user should know
• How to use Smart Lock for Android
• How to hide apps, photos, and text messages on your Android Phone
• How to block calls and texts on an Android phone
• How to run Android apps in any Chrome browser
• How to factory reset your Android phone

The post How to remove unwanted apps from your Android phone appeared first on Phandroid.

Security cameras have improved a lot over the last few years. They’ve gotten smaller, smarter, and cheaper. Still, not everyone wants to shell out the cash to outfit their home with cameras, not to mention the costly subscription plans. You already have old devices with cameras, so why not use them as security cameras? It’s not as difficult as you might think.

What You’ll Need

Obviously, you need an unused Android (or iOS) phone or tablet. Anything with a camera will do. The app we will be using supports multiple cameras, so you can put as many old devices throughout your house as you want. You will also need some sort of mount to keep the device pointed in the right direction. Lastly, you’ll need a charger to keep the phone on at all times. Get a long cable if the outlet is far away.

We’ll be using a free app called Alfred, which is also available for iOS. Alfred is a very powerful app. It has a lot of the tools that you would be expected to pay for with products like the Nest Cam. You can view your camera remotely and switch between front and back, turn on the flash, talk over the speaker, see at night, get motion alerts, and more.

Download: Alfred – Google Play

Set Up the Camera

Setting up Alfred is ridiculously easy. You’re going to wonder why you haven’t been using this app already. Alfred works as a security camera and a viewer. First, we’ll set up the camera.

1. Open up Alfred on the device you want to be used as a camera
2. Swipe through the intro and tap Start
3. Set this device as Camera and tap NEXT
4. Sign in with your Google account
5. You’ll be asked to give a few permissions
6. That’s it!

Repeat this process on all of the devices you want to use as cameras. You can tap the OK button to make the screen go black and save battery. It will still be running. Just tap the screen to unlock it. Next, we have a few things to configure in the settings.

Turn on Motion Detection

1. Tap the three-dot menu in the bottom corner
2. Select Motion Detection
3. Toggle it On
4. Set the sensitivity to Low, Medium, or High (you’ll need to test this to find the best one for your situation)
5. Tap OK

Camera Settings

1. Tap the three-dot menu in the bottom corner
2. Select Camera Settings
3. Tap Select Lens to switch between front and back
4. Toggle Launch at Reboot to make sure Alfred runs if your phone reboots
5. Toggle Passcode Lock for added security

Note: You can switch the device to be a viewer at any time. Tap the menu and select To Viewer.

View Your Cameras

Now that we have the cameras set up, we need a way to view the feeds. Install the Alfred app on your main device. This will allow you to see all of your cameras feeds and get motion alerts. It’s the same process as above, but instead of choosing Camera you will choose Viewer at startup. Make sure to log in with the same Google account as before.

1. Open up Alfred on your main device
2. Swipe through the intro and tap Start
3. Set this device as Viewer and tap NEXT
4. Sign in with the same Google account
5. That’s it!

There are a number of tools at your disposal when viewing the camera.

• Press and hold the microphone to talk over the speaker
• Press and hold the video camera to record video
• Tap the arrow to the right for more tools: rotate screen, flip camera, flash, and night mode.

All of your cameras will be listed on the main screen of the app. Simply tap on one to view it. You can also see the battery percentage and tap the video icon to see motion alerts. Tap the gear icon in the corner of the camera feed to adjust the settings for the camera remotely. You can adjust the motion detection and allow other users to view the feed by adding them to your Trust Circle.

Alfred also has a web viewer if you don’t want to pull your phone out of your pocket at the office. Just head here and make sure you’re signed in with the same Google account. All of the same features are available on the web, including a few more, such as zoom in and out.

Now you’ll always have an eye on everything that happens inside and outside your home. Put that old device to good use and protect yourself in the process.

The post How to turn your old Android phone into a security camera appeared first on Phandroid.

Whether you need to free up space for photos or you notice your phone is slowing down, these apps can help you expand the storage of your phone!

1. Files Go (Best Overall)

FIles Go is a storage manager from Google. It does a lot more than just show you how much space is available on your phone. You can free up space quickly and easily. The app will intelligently suggest files to erase before you run out of space.

• Download: Files Go
• Price: Free
• Rating: 4.6
• Installs: 500,000 – 1,000,000

2. Avast Cleanup & Boost

Avast Cleanup can do an in-depth analysis of your device’s storage situation. It will then offer cleaning and performance tips to keep your phone from getting bogged down and slow. The app can also perform automatic regular cleanups to keep things fresh.

• Download: Avast Cleanup
• Price: Free
• Rating: 4.5
• Installs: 10,000,000 – 50,000,000

3. AVG Cleaner

AVG Cleaner can identify and clean up all those hidden cache files that take up space on your phone. You can run a scan to see how much of the storage is used up by “unnecessary data.” Get rid of all the stuff you don’t need with one tap.

• Download: AVG Cleaner
• Price: Free
• Rating: 4.4
• Installs: 10,000,000 – 50,000,000

4. CCleaner

CCleaner is a very popular app for PC and Mac that works just as well on Android. The app helps you speed up your phone by removing junk and reclaiming space. Get rid of app cache, download folders, browser history, clipboard content, and a bunch of other unnecessary stuff.

• Download: CCleaner
• Price: Free
• Rating: 4.4
• Installs: 50,000,000 – 100,000,000

5. Clean Master

Clean Master helps free up your storage space by removing junk, residual files, and cache files. The app also helps you clean up all the annoying ache data from social apps such as Facebook, Messenger, WhatsApp, and Instagram without worrying about deleting the wrong files.

• Download: Clean Master
• Price: Free
• Rating: 4.7
• Installs: 500,000,000 – 1,000,000,000

6. Clean My Android

Clean My Android aims to take all the work out of your hands. The app will take care of everything, including junk files, residual files, and cache to free up storage and improve the performance of your phone. If you’re not sure how to clean up your phone, this app can do it.

• Download: Clean My Android
• Price: Free
• Rating: 4.7
• Installs: 5,000,000 – 10,000,000

7. Fast Cleaner

Fast Cleaner tries to clean up your phone quickly and easily. Free up storage and optimize performance by removing old junk files and clutter such as useless APKs, residual files, system cache, cleaning out the download folder, and more.

• Download: Fast Cleaner
• Price: Free
• Rating: 4.5
• Installs: 10,000 – 50,000

8. Norton Clean

Norton Clean is another app that will help you reclaim storage space on your phone by cleaning junk, removing residual files, and optimizing memory. Norton can also help you uninstall bloatware and unwanted apps that are running in the background.

• Download: Norton Clean
• Price: Free
• Rating: 4.7
• Installs: 1,000,000 – 5,000,000

9. The Cleaner

The Cleaner helps you free up memory and boost your device’s speed. You can clean up storage space by deleting old cache files and APKs, batch uninstall apps with too many permissions, speed up game performance, and protect your privacy by locking apps with a PIN.

• Download: The Cleaner
• Price: Free
• Rating: 4.4
• Installs: 10,000,000 – 50,000,000

10. UFO Cleaner

UFO Cleaner has a “1-tap boost” feature that automatically detects phone performance. It can also do all the typical things, like clean up junk files, kill auto-launched apps, detect apps that cause the CPU to overheat, and inform you about low storage space.

• Download:UFO Cleaner
• Price: Free
• Rating: 4.7
• Installs: 500,000 – 1,000,000

More Best Apps

The Google Play Store has hundreds of thousands of apps to choose from. This list only scratches the surface. We’ve published numerous “Best Apps” lists for everything from dating to education. Check out the lists below to explore even more!

• 100 Best Android Apps
• 10 Best Email Apps for Android
• 10 Best Dating Apps for Android
• 10 Best Android Camera Apps
• Best Android apps for college students

The post 10 Best apps to free up space on your Android phone appeared first on Phandroid.

In order to keep your messages in the regular Facebook app, there are a few things, you need to do. Here’s how:

1. Navigate to the Messages tab from within the main Facebook app
2. You should see an alert that says messages have moved
3. Tap the “Get App” button which will take you to the Play Store
4. Start installing Facebook Messenger, but cancel the download before it finishes

Now when you go back to the messages tab you should be able to see them all. Conversations will open inside of the main Facebook app as normal. This trick worked for us, but it’s not working for everyone. We’re not sure how long this loophole will stay open, but for now, it’s a nice little trick. Did it work for you? Do you use the Facebook Messenger app? Do you use Facebook at all?

The post Use this trick to check Facebook messages without downloading the Messenger app appeared first on Phandroid.

You’ve opened the box, pulled out the new Samsung Galaxy S7 (or Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge), and peeled off the stickers. Now what? There are a bunch of different things you can do with a new phone. The sheer amount of possibilities can be a little daunting. Don’t worry, there are really just a few things you should do first. Here are 14 things every Galaxy S7 owner should do.

1. Sign in or create a Samsung account

It’s not mandatory to have a Samsung account to use a Samsung phone, but if you don’t you will miss out on a few things on this list. Create an account right now and you won’t have to worry about it later. It only takes a minute to create a new Samsung account.

1. Open Settings
2. Tap “Accounts”
3. Tap “Add account”
4. Tap “Samsung account > CREATE ACCOUNT”
5. Follow the instructions

If you already have a Samsung account from an older device, you can sign in with that account.

1. Tap “Accounts”
2. Tap “Add account”
3. Tap “Samsung account”
4. Enter your email and password
5. Tap “SIGN IN”

2. Prepare for a lost or stolen phone

Losing your brand new phone would be a terrible thing, but it can happen. Luckily, Android has great built-in tools for that exact situation. The Galaxy S7 comes with something called “Android Device Manager” pre-installed. If your phone is lost or stolen you can simply go to this website, log in with your Google account, and locate your phone. You can also remotely ring, lock, and erase the device.

Check out our full, detailed guide to finding a lost or stolen Android phone.

3. Add your fingerprint to increase security

Samsung’s fingerprint sensor has gotten a lot better over the years. You’ll definitely want to take advantage of this quick method to add more security to your Galaxy S7. Your fingerprint can be used to unlock the phone, but also a few other things. First, let’s add your fingers to the phone. We recommend adding both thumbs and both pointer fingers.

1. Open Settings
2. Tap “Lock Screen and Security”
3. Tap “Fingerprints”
4. Tap “Add Fingerprints”
5. Follow on-screen instructions

After adding your fingerprints, we suggest turning on the following options.

1. Web sign-in
2. Verify Samsung Account
3. Use with Samsung Pay
4. Fingerprint Unlock

4. Change up the look with a Theme

Last year, Samsung introduced themes on the Samsung Galaxy S6. With a few taps you can completely change the way your phone looks. The Theme Store is full of different looks, some more complex than others. Some of the themes cost a few bucks, but most of them are available for free.

1. Long-press on the home screen
2. Tap “Themes”
3. Choose one of the pre-loaded themes, or tap “MORE THEMES”
4. Select a theme to try
5. Tap the “DOWNLOAD” button
6. Once downloaded, install the theme

5. Enable the Always-on display

One of the new features on the Galaxy S7 is the “Always-on” display. This is a small part of the screen that stays on at all times to show things like the time, date, battery, and notifications. The Galaxy S7’s AMOLED display allows this feature to work without using up a lot of battery life. There are a bunch of cool things you can do with the Always-on display.

1. Open Settings
2. Tap “Display”
3. Tap “Always On Display”
4. Toggle “On” in the top right
5. Tap “Content to show, clock style, and background image” to customize how it looks

6. Delete and disable bloatware

Every year we hear about how Samsung is “trimming the fat” in TouchWiz. And every year they still include a bunch of stuff you don’t want. Carriers are also a big culprit when it comes to bloatware. The good news is you can remove almost all of the bloatware with a few taps. You won’t be able to remove every app, but you’ll be able to clear out a lot of bloat.

1. Open the App Drawer
2. Tap the “EDIT” button
3. Tap the (-) symbol on an app to remove it
4. Confirm on the pop-up

7. Get rid of the “Briefing” news feed panel

Speaking of bloatware, one of the most annoying instances is the Flipboard “Briefing” panel. It’s not useful for most people, and it just sits on your home screen eating away at your battery life. Unfortunately, it’s still included on the Galaxy S7, but it’s also still easy to remove.

1. Pinch the home screen with two fingers
2. Swipe over to the Briefing page
3. Tap the toggle button to disable the page

If you really like Flipboard, we recommend installing the Android app. It does everything you can do on the Briefing page, but it won’t sit on your home page and consume battery.

Read More: Best Galaxy S7 Cases & Accessories

8. Set up Samsung Pay to pay with your phone

Samsung Pay is one of the best things Samsung has come up with in recent years. It allows you to pay with your phone at nearly every store, even the ones that don’t support Android Pay or Apple Pay. All you have to do is hold your phone up to the slot where you would normally swipe your card. Works like magic.

1. Open the “Samsung Pay” app
2. Sign into your Samsung account
3. Register your fingerprint (if you haven’t already) and create a backup PIN
4. Tap “Add” to take a picture of a credit card for use

To use Samsung Pay in a store:

1. Drag the “Samsung Pay” tab up from the bottom of your home screen
2. Swipe left and right to choose a card to pay with
3. Place your fingerprint on the home button
4. Tap your device to the payment processor.

9. Put your most-used settings at the top

There are a lot of settings on the Galaxy S7. Going into the Settings to find a specific option can be time-consuming if you don’t know where to look. The Settings on the Galaxy S7 have been reorganized, and with that change comes the option to pin your most-used setting to the top of the page. This makes it super easy to quickly find what you need.

1. Open Settings
2. Tap “Edit” in the upper right
3. You can select up to 9 settings by checking/unchecking the boxes

10. Get the most out of your battery

The Galaxy S7 has a nice 3000 mAh battery, but you still might find yourself with little left at the end of the day. The best way to get the most out of your low battery is with the built-in Ultra Power Saving Mode. When this mode is enabled it switches the phone to a black and white interface and disables most background activities. You’ll still be able to take calls, send messages, and use a few important apps.

1. Open Settings
2. Tap “Battery”
3. Go to “Ultra power saving mode”
4. Toggle the switch to turn it on

There is also the less extreme Power Saving Mode. When this mode is enabled the screen brightness will turn down and the processor will scale back. You can set Power saving mode to automatically turn on at any level between 50-15%.

1. Open Settings
2. Tap “Battery”
3. Go to “Power saving mode”
4. Tap “Start power saving” and select an option

11. Learn about Android Marshmallow features

The Samsung Galaxy S7 comes with Android 6.0 Marshmallow. For many people, this will be their first experience with this new version of Android. There aren’t a ton of differences between Android 5.0 Lollipop and Marshmallow, but there is one thing you will want to use. “Google Now on Tap” is a brand new way to perform searches on a phone. If you can get into the habit of using it, Not on Tap can change the way you use Google.

1. Hold down the home button until you see white lines trace the display
2. On the first launch, you will be asked to enable Now on Tap

The idea of Now on Tap is to scan the display for information and provide immediate results. For example, if you’re reading an article about John Boyega and you want to visit his IMDB page. Simply hold down the home button to launch Now on Tap. Google will scan the page and bring up a card for John Boyega. From there you can visit his IMDB page and use other quick links.

To find out more about Android Marshmallow, read our full guide on all of the new features.

12. Use the SD card slot and save photos to it

To the delight of many Samsung fans, the Galaxy S7 once again has a microSD card slot. You can expand the storage of the phone by up to 200GB without a pricey cloud storage subscription. If you can add extra storage you might as well go all out with the 200GB card from SanDisk.

Once you have a microSd card installed, you should use it to store all of your photos and videos. This will free up space on the phone for apps and games. When you first insert the microSD card you should be asked to switch media storage to the card, if not, follow these steps.

1. Open the Camera
2. Tap the Settings icon
3. Tap “Storage location”
4. Select “SD card”

13. Master all the Galaxy S7 Tips & Tricks

We’ve given you a good starting point with this list, but there’s a lot more you can do with the Galaxy S7. For a more in-depth guide, check out our massive list of over 50 tips and tricks. If there something you want to know there’s a good chance you’ll find it in our guide.

14. Get help in the Samsung Galaxy S7 forums

The next thing you should do is join the Galaxy S7 forum over at Android Forums. You’ll find conversations about customization, troubleshooting problems, accessories, and much more. It’s the best place to go to ask questions and learn more about your new phone. Here are a few threads to get your feet wet:

• What Color S7/Edge Will You Get?
• Galaxy S7/S7 Edge Pictures Samples!
• The SEXY Galaxy S7 Case list!
• Best Smartphone display ever?

The post 14 things every Samsung Galaxy S7 owner should do appeared first on Phandroid.

I would like to take this opportunity to reminisce about some of my favorite pieces, look back at how much Android has changed, and give some thanks.

The 5 Types of Android Users You Meet

This article started with a suggestion from Rob to write something about the countless “Share your home screen” threads on Android Forums. I thought it would be fun to categorize the home screens into different types of Android users. From there, it just kept getting more silly. I decided to give each user a nickname, McDonald’s order, and favorite beverage just for fun.

Readers immediately responded to the article positively. Twitter started blowing up with tweets from people sharing home screens and declaring their type. I remember Rob saying something to me after the post went live about how the article wasn’t what he had in mind but he liked it. That’s why it’s my favorite. I was able to take a basic idea and put my own creative spin on it.

Phan Favs

Phan Favs was a series I started that allowed readers to vote for their favorite apps. We’ve written a ton of “Best Apps” lists and readers always disagree with our rankings. So this was a way for readers to decide. I had a lot of fun putting these together and tallying up the votes. It’s always fun interacting with the community.

It’s time to stop treating Android Wear like a phone

This article makes me a little sad because I feel like Google really lost their way with Android Wear. It started out as a pretty simple interface for notifications and glanceable information. Google had all these guidelines for making the watches feel more like a watches, but people just wanted phones on their wrist. That’s why I switched to Pebble. I also really like the photo I took for this article.

HTC One Remix Review

My first review on Phandroid was the HTC One Remix, the Verizon version of the HTC One Mini 2. There’s nothing special about this phone, but it was the first of many review units I was lucky enough to get. I actually still have this phone because I accidentally dropped it and cracked the screen shortly after the review went up. The first phone I ever received for Phandroid and I broke it. Thankfully, I was much more careful with the phones that followed.

5 Tops Apps & Games of the Week

A lot of my work at Phandroid revolved around apps and games. I made a majority of the “Best Apps for [BLANK]” lists, Best Apps of the Month, app reviews, and the weekly 5 Top Apps videos on YouTube. These were some of my favorite things to make. The weekly app videos were fun and the comments were alwayts positive.

Speaking of videos, I made a lot of them for Phandroid. A lot more than I ever thought I would. When I first started working for Neverstill, I wasn’t very good at videos. It’s amazing to see how much more comfortable I got over the years.

Here is the first video I ever made:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6sVP2yb3hIY

Here’s one of the last videos I made for Phandroid:

Is that even the same guy? Here are a couple of my other favorite videos.

Android has changed a lot in the last four years. My daily driver when I started at Phandroid was the Nexus 5. I was still excited about Android tablets. Smartwatches were just getting started. Android O seemed like it was a decade away. If a phone didn’t have a headphone jack it got laughed out of existence. It was a different time.

One thing hasn’t changed over the years: the passion that Android users have for the platform. Interacting with Phandroid readers has always been a joy (even when we get into arguments). If no one cares about the content there’s no point in writing any of this stuff. I want to thank everyone who has read my articles and watched my videos over the years. I appreciate it a lot.

Thank You

Lastly, I need to thank the team at Neverstill Media. My life was changed 6 years ago when Rob hired me to write about Windows Phones. I look back at my time here and realize how incredibly lucky I am. I’ve learned so much and I’ve made so many unforgettable memories. I owe it all to Rob for giving me a chance. I can’t thank him enough.

And for the rest of my teammates, keep kicking ass and doing your thing. We have an incredibly talented cast of writers and developers at Phandroid. I enjoyed getting to know you all and becoming good friends. I wish you nothing but the best in the future. Thank you for everything.

As for me, I’m off to XDA-Developers where I will be Managing Editor. If you’re interested in following me, I’m most active on Twitter (@tallshmo). Thanks again for reading and watching my work! Android Forever!

The post So long, and thanks to all the Phans appeared first on Phandroid.

The big tech companies continue to gobble up the competition. Reuters is reporting that Amazon has agreed to acquire Ring for more than $1 billion. Ring is a company best known for doorbell security cameras, but they also offer other smart home devices. The smart home market is very important to Amazon, and now they have one of the biggest up-and-coming players.

Ring is expected to operate under its own branding like business as usual. We can expect to see a much greater integration with Amazon products and services. Ring already integrates with Amazon Alexa really well. If you’re an existing Ring user, you probably won’t notice anything different. The acquisition ensures that your Ring services will be working for a long time.

The problem with this acquisition is something that has been happening in the tech industry for a while. “Success” for startups is no longer defined by how well the business does. It’s defined by getting acquired by Amazon or Google. Companies like Ring and Nest start small and become successful, but instead of taking on the big dogs head-to-head, they get absorbed.

The post Amazon acquires Ring’s smart doorbell business appeared first on Phandroid.

If you’re a fan of unlimited data (who isn’t?), AT&T has some good news today. They have announced a couple of changes to their unlimited plan line-up. The new plans are called Unlimited Plus Enhanced and Unlimited Choice Enhanced.

The big thing that everyone will be happy about is the Unlimited Pirce Enhanced plan is $10 cheaper than the current Unlimited Plus plan. It’s $80 compared to $90. The Plus plan also increases hotspot data to 15GB. Unlimited Choice Enhanced, however, is $5 more than the current plan. Both new plans will come with a $15 loyalty credit.

These prices are only available if you sign up for paperless billing and autopay. As with anything that involves carriers, there’s a ton of fine print and extra details, so be sure to read the full announcement before running to sign up.

The post AT&T making changes to its new unlimited data plans appeared first on Phandroid.

With a lower aperture, the camera can let in more light at a time. This means low-light photography will get a great boost by offering up well-lit photos without adding a ton of noise to the image. Samsung has released a slew of official camera samples to show off what the camera can do at both apertures. Check them out below.

F/1.5 Samples

F/2.4 Samples

Front Camera

The post 38 photos taken with the Samsung Galaxy S9 [GALLERY] appeared first on Phandroid.

If you’re going to buy something online, there’s a very good chance you will be shopping at Amazon. Shopping at Amazon has a lot of benefits, but it also suffers from the same online shopping problems. The main issue is you don’t get to see the physical objects in person. Amazon is adding a new feature to help with this issue.

The new feature is called “AR View” and it’s available in the Amazon Android app. It gives you the ability to put digital objects in your real life space. The obvious example is items like furniture, which can be hard to visualize in a room. Thousands of items are available in AR View and they can be accessed through the camera icon in the search bar.

The post Amazon’s AR shopping tool is now available on Android appeared first on Phandroid.