I have lost count of the number of phones I’ve used up to this point in my life. I never bothered counting, but I’m sure the number will be higher than that of any casual user in their lifetime.
It’s been a wild ride, and I still enjoy getting my hands on new phones every year, perhaps more than ever before, despite the slow innovation in the smartphone industry.
I may have labeled it as an addiction had it not been part of my profession. Whatever the case may be, I wouldn’t have enjoyed every aspect of the out-of-the-box experience of a new phone.
I’m not aware of any credible survey that gives us an insight into how many people don’t change the out-of-the-box setting when they buy a new phone. However, I haven’t met a person like that so far.
I’m certainly not one of those people who are happy with the default setting of a handset — if such people even exist.
After testing plenty of phones, here are the settings I would disable first.
6 settings I change on every phone to instantly upgrade my Android experience
I change these settings before installing any apps
Haptic feedback
If anyone asks me about what vintage pieces of tech I miss the most, I’d surely include a phone with a physical keyboard, preferably with a QWERTY layout.
I tested the BlackBerry Passport back in the day and absolutely loved the typing experience. I’m not against a touchscreen keyboard, but it can’t match the same level of accuracy and the “click” response that a physical keyboard generates.
Haptics try to mimic that response but fail miserably. I didn’t like it then, and I don’t like it now. I wouldn’t have complained about it had it not been enabled by default.
The vibration feedback annoys me the most when I start typing, because this is when the irritating buzz keeps repeating with every key press.
You’ll also get it during touch interactions, taking photos, navigation gestures, and more. I don’t like that buzz in any of these instances, except for maybe when someone is calling me.
This is enough reason for me to disable the haptic feedback on the first boot. This is reasonably easy to do on any Android phone.
You’ll find the setting to disable haptic feedback usually in the Sound & vibration setting. But if you can’t find it, use the search bar and type vibration or haptic.
Lock screen notifications
I’m not in favor of applying stringent privacy measures at the cost of important features. However, I never compromise on my privacy when I have nothing or only a little to lose.
Regardless of the phone you buy, the best privacy features aren’t enabled by default when you switch on the phone for the first time.
The first privacy feature I activate when I get a new phone is preventing the content of certain notifications from appearing on the lock screen.
None of the social media apps on my phone displays the content of their notifications on my phone’s lock screen.
This is one of those effective ways to tackle social media addiction. Not only that, but it also rules out the possibility of someone else seeing my messages and OTPs without needing to unlock my phone.
You’ll find this in the lock screen settings on almost all Android phones. If you can’t find it, type lock screen notifications in the search bar of the Settings app.
Auto download
The availability of apps is critical to Android’s success, and there are certain apps that I can’t live without.
WhatsApp is one, not because I love using it, but because all my friends, the gym I go to, and the businesses I purchase from give me important updates using Meta’s instant messaging app.
This also means setting up certain WhatsApp settings all over again after installing the app on a new phone. The first setting I disable is Auto download.
However, this isn’t as straightforward as disabling a toggle. You will need to open WhatsApp settings, tap Storage and data, and scroll to find Media auto-download.
Under this section, uncheck all media types in three categories: When using mobile data, When connected on Wi-Fi, and When roaming.
This will blur the media attachment you received and ensure photos, videos, and documents never download automatically on your devices, saving users from “zero-click” malware attacks.
Auto download also clutters your gallery with irrelevant files. Files from all the groups you are part of will be stored automatically on your device, which means you need to spend more time freeing up your storage.
I do it the easy way by manually downloading the media files that I want to see and save. Even if I switch to another instant messaging app in the future, I’ll do the same.
Even the best phones need a few adjustments
There is no such thing as “a perfect smartphone” for everyone. Even if you find the best option for you, it’s unlikely that you’ll love all the default settings after booting it for the first time.
I always change key Android security settings on a new Android phone to get the best experience. The settings that you need to adjust may also depend on the Android skin you use.
However, the above settings I always disable are pretty much the same and are enabled by default on almost all Android skins. I put the least effort and get the most benefit.
