15 Reasons to Unlock Developer Options on Your Android « Android :: Gadget Hacks

In case you didn’t know, Android has an awesome hidden settings menu called «Developer options» that contains a lot of advanced and unique features. If you’ve ever come across this menu before, chances are you just dipped in for a minute so that you could enable USB debugging and use ADB features. As the name implies, the “Developer Options”—sometimes called “Developer Mode”—are intended to be used by Android developers.

Especially in gaming, this technique helps gamers escape from world, as the things created in the game look more like their real-world counterparts. Toggle the switch next to «Force RTL layout,» and the orientation of almost all elements on your screen will switch over to an RTL, or right-to-left, layout. Text formatting will still be defined by your regular system language, so you can still read everything, but the formatting might be a better fit for certain languages. He has been covering consumer technology for over a decade and previously worked as Managing Editor at XDA-Developers. Joe loves all things technology and is also an avid DIYer at heart.

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You should see a popup that says «You are now a developer» when you’re done, as seen in the screenshot below. If an app requires developer mode and it is a trusted app, then turning developer mode on is generally safe. However, activating and changing various developer options, without understanding what you’re doing, can have unwanted effects.

Take a look every once in a while and see if there’s anything you’d like to try. No list of Android Developer options tips would be complete without mention of USB debugging. It’s essential for developers and useful for everyone else. In Windows, you can use the Windows Task Manager to review current processes. Android doesn’t have an app equivalent to this, but this Developer options entry is close.

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This usually happens in the background, but if you’re curious what frequency your phone has assigned to each app or want to change it, open this menu. Next to each app, you’ll see one of several values and can tap any entry to adjust its setting. As a companion option, if you’re curious to know what refresh rate your phone is currently using, enable Show refresh rate to display it on the screen all the time. Android requires you to manually approve all USB debugging connections to new computers for safety.

• MIDI enables your phone to communicate with musical instruments and other sound producing equipment.
• Unlocking the bootloader may lead to data loss on Android and ChromeOS devices, as some data is impossible to back up without root permission.
• It’s no secret that our phones regularly track our location, which raises privacy concerns.
• Do note that many OEM disable this option, so you might not have access, depending on your device.
• For the Asus Transformer Prime TF201, Asus has released a special bootloader unlock tool.
• If an app requires developer mode and it is a trusted app, then turning developer mode on is generally safe.

There might be times when you want your friends or the apps you’re using to think you’re somewhere you’re not, and Developer options makes this possible. Go down the list of options in the menu, and tap Select mock location app to set up this GPS spoofing. Even though some of the features accessible through the Developer options can be helpful, it’s not always clear which option does what. Although none of the features in the Developer options will break your phone or tablet, enabling some of them can cause unintended problems.

How to Enable Developer Options On Android

Since they are intended for software developers, not every option is relevant for the average user. While we’ll explain each setting as we go through them, be sure to watch what you tap in this menu. Adjusting certain options by accident could result in performance issues. With that done you can return to Developer options, select your app of choice, and start spoofing as you like. It’s helpful for apps that are locked to a specific part of the world, as well as for fooling your contacts into thinking you’ve suddenly become a globetrotter. This message should appear once you have enabled Developer options.

The main setting you’re looking for is Force 4x MSAA (multisample anti-aliasing). Hidden away in the main Android Settings menu is a secret set of tools called Developer options that gives you access to all kinds of useful tools and tweaks. If you know how to uncover it, you can take advantage of this bonus functionality, which will allow you to do everything from transform the look of your phone to fake your GPS location. Android ships with a whole bunch of Developer Options that can unlock experimental and debugging features. Now on System screen tap on Advance, and from more System settings tap on Developer options just below Multiple users. By default, whenever you are using a Bluetooth headset and you receive an incoming call, you will hear a generic ringtone different from the one played on your phone.

Select «Limit background processes,» then you can choose the amount of processes that are allowed to run in the background and eat up memory on your device. The bar graph at the top of the screen tells you what percentage of RAM is currently in use, and the app listings beneath it are ordered by how much memory each app is currently using. If your phone dynamically changes refresh rates based on certain criteria, as modern Pixel devices do, you can force it to always use the high refresh rate with this option. Keep in mind that this will increase battery consumption, though. With this option enabled, your phone’s screen will stay on when plugged into a charger. For developers, this is useful for keeping an eye on your app over long periods of time, but normal users can take advantage of it, too.

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File transfer will change your device to USB mass storage, allowing you move files between the phone and the other device . USB tethering will let you share your device’s data connection without another device, effectively turning it into a wireless adapter. There are a number of techniques used to accomplish anti-aliasing. One technique is MSAA, which Android supports in the form of 4x MSAA.

Even something as simple as spoofing your GPS location, or fooling apps into thinking you’re somewhere that you aren’t, requires you to enable developer mode. For example, if you want to spoof your GPS Android developer job in Pokemon Go, you need to enable developer mode. If your «Process stats» menu was looking abysmal earlier, or if your phone just doesn’t have much RAM, you might want to look into this last option.

Which of these cool Developer options entries is your favorite? Anti-aliasing is a technique used to improve digital images by reducing jagged edges. Since in the real world, not everything operates in straight lines, this technique allows for digital objects to be display more realistically.

Definition of DEVELOPER_MODE for StrictMode

While this feature is much older than split screen mode, there are still many apps which don’t support it. Sure, this may affect much fewer users now , but installing apps on the SD card is still a useful way to conserve space. I agree with Manfred that Config.DEBUG is not appropriate for SDK developers. There are plenty of other settings in the Developer options menu, but most of them are useless unless you’re developing Android apps.

Only use the developer options menu if you know what you’re doing, or if you’re carefully following instructions provided by such an app. When you see the message that says you are a developer, that means you have successfully turned on developer mode. If you were trying to install or use an app that requires developer mode, you can return to that app and should have access to all of the exclusive developer options. Device developer option enablement vs debug mode are two separate things. Bootloader unlocking is the process of disabling the bootloader security that makes secure boot possible.

When not researching and testing computers, game consoles or smartphones, he stays up-to-date on the myriad complex systems that power battery electric vehicles . His engineering background helps him present technical solutions and concepts in an engaging manner. Varun https://wizardsdev.com/ enjoys reading both short and long form fiction and has tried his hand at writing poems too. When not busy with the pen, he likes traveling and spending time with family. On the Developer options screen, you can see various options that are hidden till now from you.

It’s a hidden menu in the Settings app with a bunch of features and options that aid in testing and debugging apps. The Android operating system is well known for its hidden features and Easter eggs, like using custom dialer codes to access various hidden apps and settings. Some of these codes are universal, which means you’ll get the desired output on any Android device, whether they’re a great flagship or a cheap budget phone. However, custom OEM skins and carrier-customized models often come with their own set of hidden codes. After that, you should now have a new Developer options menu available in your Settings app.

However, to use split-screen mode, the app must support the feature, which isn’t always the case. For example, the ESPN app doesn’t support split screen, which is annoying especially you want to watch a game while also view an article. This next option will come in handy if you’ve ever wondered what was going on behind the scenes on your Android device. Enable the «Show CPU usage» toggle, then you’ll instantly see an overlay on your screen that shows you all of the processes that are currently running.