Database Users

Samsung Galaxy S7 tips and tricks

Let's make a comprehensive list of all the cool little tricks, hidden menus, shortcuts, and tips that we've found.
Here's a starter list that I found to get us going
http://phandroid.com/galaxy-s7-tips/

List of tips & tricks
Optimize battery usage for individual apps
Settings - Battery - More - Optimize battery usage
All of my apps except for my stock Verizon ones and some system apps were already optimized
Disable scanning to improve battery
Settings - Location - Improve accuracy
Disable Bluetooth and WiFi scanning to keep your phone from scanning through these services even when you have the service turned off.
Change permission settings for individual apps
Settings - Privacy and emergency - App permissions
I went through and disabled some different apps that were requesting my location to help save battery. You also get a warning if the app you're changing is designed for an older version of Android and might cause issues.
Disable Quick connect in notification drop down
Access notification drop down by swiping down - tap the down arrow - Edit - turn off
Spelling correction for other keyboards
Samsung now has a built in spelling correction feature with their stock keyboard. But if you use another keyboard you lose that feature. If you download the Google keyboard it comes with spelling correction that works on any keyboard. I even disable it as an input method. The only bug is that enabling the Samsung keyboard will disable Google spelling correction, and you'll have to go toggle it on once you switch to another keyboard.
Download Google keyboard > Settings - Language and input - Spelling correction - Google keyboard
Lock screen shortcuts
Settings - Lock screen and security - Info and app shortcuts - App shortcuts
You can change the app shortcuts shown on the lock screen or choose to disable them altogether.
Pin Windows
Settings - Lock screen and security - Other security settings - Pin windows - On
Allows you to lock a current window on your device so you can let someone borrow your device for a moment. If you turn on "ask for pattern" it will prevent access to other apps without unlocking your phone.
Thanks 'insang-droid'
Turn off usage data access
Settings - Lock screen and security - Other security settings - Usage data access - More - Show system apps
Turning this off prevents apps from monitoring which other apps you use, how often you use them, your service provider, and other usage data. I don't see any reason my bloatware Amazon app needs access to which other apps I use.
Home screen options
Launch home screen settings by pinching your screen or by long pressing on an open area. From here you can change wallpapers, widgets, themes, and your screen grid (thanks 'insang-droid'). You can also add new blank pages, remove an existing page, and set your home screen. By going left, you can disable Flipboard Briefing if it was turned on.
Screen grid options are 4x4, 4x5, and 5x5
Fingerprint tips
You can add up to 4 fingerprint profiles in your S7. I recommend holding the phone as your normally do when you register your thumb. Rotate and move your thumb around, hold the phone with one hand and do it. Register your prints as multiple slots to make it more likely to accept your print. Also, tapping your finger instead of holding seems to unlock your phone faster.
Better screenshots
Settings - Advanced features - Smart capture
With smart capture on, you can immediately crop your screenshot, share it, or scroll down a page and take a long screenshot. This feature is really awesome if you are trying to save a long webpage or something that won't fit on one screen.
Settings - Advanced features - Palm swipe to capture
Instead of holding the Home and Power buttons simultaneously, you can swipe your hand across the screen to take a screenshot.
Remove Samsung Bookmarks in Chrome
Settings - Applications - Application manager - More - Show system apps - com.android.providers.partnerbookmarks - Disable
Gets rid of the Samsung Bookmarks in Chrome that show up as their own tab and also under Mobile Bookmarks.

For the Disable scanning to improve battery
You may want to update the path to get to it
You have to go settings > Applications > Google (scroll as it's the last one on the list) > Location > Improve Accuracy

nest75068 said:
For the Disable scanning to improve battery
You may want to update the path to get to it
You have to go settings > Applications > Google (scroll as it's the last one on the list) > Location > Improve Accuracy
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yep, that takes you there too

PIN window
Settings> search for PIN
Let's you pin the app to screen so back button and recent apps button don't affect the screen.
Home grid
Hold empty home screen and get in to grid settings

Edge 7 Problems

Hello,
I'm starting to hate my S7 Edge, and I'm really missing my Edge 6 Plus. Has anyone else had these problems and perhaps have any advice for resolving them? I've searched around and can't find any other reports of these problems.
First, if I'm traveling, *sometimes* I can't use the Google Navigation App if I'm in motion. For example, if I'm driving home, and I decide to get gas, if I say "OK Google, navigate to the Gas Station" It will of course find a close gas station, and allow me to choose which one. After I do so, the app will plot a course, but then will fail to acquire a satellite. The app will just sit there constantly saying "Acquiring Satellite" (or something to that effect, I can't remember the exact error) but it never does find the satellite. The only fix for this is to repeatedly turn off and on the Location services, until eventually it just works. Which is extremely infuriating not to mention dangerous while driving. I rememeber falling in love with my S6 Edge Plus because it had such an easy time navigating and this S7 Edge is so consistently terrible at locating my position.
Second, this is a problem I did not know I had until today: After mis-placing my phone, I went to the Google "Find my phone" web page on my computer, to force my cellphone to ring. I have used this service before with all my other phones and it never failed to force the device to ring. But this time, my S7 did not ring. Luckilly I was able to find my phone on my own. When I did locate it, i noticed that there was an icon in the notification tray saying "Ringing phone" and yet the phone was NOT RINGING! With the phone in hand, I tried to use the webpage to locate my phone by ringing it again. The same thing happened. It put a notification up that my phone was "ringing" in the phone's notification display, but made no actual noise.
I checked the settings - > Lock Screen and Security -> Find my Mobile, and it asks me for my Samsung Account Password.
Why my samsung account? Why not google? I don't understand.
So I signed in, and google location service is set to ON, as expected. Remote controls is also set to ON. There is a notification at the bottom that says to track and control my device, go to: findmymobile.samsung
So I go there, and I tell it to ring my phone, and what do you know? It rings my phone perfectly. Noise and everything.
How do I switch it over to google's service? I really don't like most of Samsung's software offerings, and would prefer to use native google apps out of convenience. I don't remember ever having this problem with any other galaxy device. Not even my tablet does this.
Can anyone help?

I haven't had any GPS problems with mine (U.S. Sprint version). What are your location settings? Make sure it's set to use GPS, and not just network or WiFi.
Find My Mobile and Android 's service are two different things FMM is Samsung's product. To make sure Google's is active, go to Device Administrators and make sure Android Device Manager is turned on. Then go to Apps, scroll to the bottom and tap on Google, then scroll down and tap on Security. Make sure 'Remotely locate this device' (and 'Allow remote lock and erase' if you want that) are turned on.

meyerweb said:
I haven't had any GPS problems with mine (U.S. Sprint version). What are your location settings? Make sure it's set to use GPS, and not just network or WiFi.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have GPS, WIFI and Mobile Networks turned on.
meyerweb said:
Find My Mobile and Android 's service are two different things FMM is Samsung's product. To make sure Google's is active, go to Device Administrators and make sure Android Device Manager is turned on. Then go to Apps, scroll to the bottom and tap on Google, then scroll down and tap on Security. Make sure 'Remotely locate this device' (and 'Allow remote lock and erase' if you want that) are turned on.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
-Android Device Manager is turned on in the Device Administrators Section.
-I am not sure how to complete the second instructions. I do not see "Apps" as an option in the Settings panels. Can you advise where to find it?
Thank you!

Kirren said:
-Android Device Manager is turned on in the Device Administrators Section.
-I am not sure how to complete the second instructions. I do not see "Apps" as an option in the Settings panels. Can you advise where to find it?
Thank you!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Settings / Applications
Scroll to bottom, tap Google (on my Sprint S7 Edge, it's the very last item).
Scroll down until you see "Security" and tap there.
The first two toggles (on mine) are "Remotely locate this device" and "Allow remote unlock and erase."

meyerweb said:
Settings / Applications
Scroll to bottom, tap Google (on my Sprint S7 Edge, it's the very last item).
Scroll down until you see "Security" and tap there.
The first two toggles (on mine) are "Remotely locate this device" and "Allow remote unlock and erase."
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ah, I was able to find the settings under Google, however both are already checked. Are there any other settings I need to check?
{{Edit: I toggled the setting just to test it, and now it seems to be working. I don't know why this worked, because the setting was already properly configured. But it works now. *shrug* Thank you so very much for your help and patience!}}

Glad to help. I seen lots of things get fixed when you toggle a setting. Something in the settings file got corrupted, and toggling the settings on and off rewrote what should have already been there. At least that's my guess.

Help - S7 Edge - Home Key and Recent Apps Button Not Work (and other weird problems)

A few days ago, I noticed that my home key and recent apps buttons on my S7 Edge stopped working. I was able to fix that with a simple reset a few times, but not any more, as both the Home Key and Recent Apps button no longer work at all. The only one that works is the back button.
I've searched the problem and have tried things from deleting recently installed apps to attempting to reboot in safe mode, but nothing has worked. Here is some more information about this problem, and other weird things my phone has been doing:
- I can seem to properly restart into safe mode. When I reboot with the safe mode button sequence, the words "safe mode" appear on the bottom left, until I am prompted to enter my password, and then they disappear.
- A lot of things in the Settings menu appear to be locked, so I can't change them. For example, I cant uninstall apps from the application manager anymore (the uninstall button does nothing). I can no longer change the "lock automatically" setting under lock screen and security>secure lock settings, as the only option is for the phone to lock immediately.
- I even tried a temp solution of downloading apps which allow for button overlays on the screen (e.g, Simple Control) , but itwont work because the phone won't let me turn the "service" on under Settings>Accessibility. When I try to turn the service for the app on, it says "Simple Control and secure startup can't be enable at the same time". However, if I got to Lock Screen and Security > Secure Startup, I am unable to change the option to "do not require password when device powers on". This may because my phone has an enterprise app on it which overrides certain security requirements.
- not rooted or anything like that
Any help would be appreciated.

chuk48 said:
This may because my phone has an enterprise app on it which overrides certain security requirements.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes that is probably the cause of your problems. Has it recently updated? Ask the developer of that app...

Double tap to sleep on Nougat - nothing works!

I recently upgraded to Nougat (not rooted, stock), and double tap to sleep in Nova is officially broken! I have tried many apps from the App store claiming they work (Screen Lock Pro, Screen On/Off etc.) and nothing is giving the functionality I had in MM with double tap to sleep, and unlocking via FingerPrint.
It always asks me for a PIN! What I have found out is that sometimes DTS works (when no notifications come in), when notifications come in, it asks for a PIN again.
I'm so frustrated about not having such a simple feature working, does anyone have any ideas?

jark99 said:
I recently upgraded to Nougat (not rooted, stock), and double tap to sleep in Nova is officially broken! I have tried many apps from the App store claiming they work (Screen Lock Pro, Screen On/Off etc.) and nothing is giving the functionality I had in MM with double tap to sleep, and unlocking via FingerPrint.
It always asks me for a PIN! What I have found out is that sometimes DTS works (when no notifications come in), when notifications come in, it asks for a PIN again.
I'm so frustrated about not having such a simple feature working, does anyone have any ideas?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
go to setting > accessibility > select nova > turn off the switch
restart your device and go to setting > accessibility > select nova > turn ON the switch
there is known issue for Galaxy phones and some gesture input & etc for nova launcher and they provide accessibility service to solve it.
:good:

Geeks Empire said:
go to setting > accessibility > select nova > turn off the switch
restart your device and go to setting > accessibility > select nova > turn ON the switch
there is known issue for Galaxy phones and some gesture input & etc for nova launcher and they provide accessibility service to solve it.
:good:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've tried all that, it still doesn't work at all

I received the Samsung Galaxy 7 upgrade to 7.0 today. I spent time exploring all settings. I went into accessibility settings and attempted to try some of the options. However, now I am unable to access anything on my phone. There is a voice that identifies whatever I toucj and says it outloud. It will not do anything else, so when I tap on an icon I am basically locked out.

Titanium Backup schedules not executed

Is anyone else having the issue of TB schedules not being executed when the phone is sleeping? I have set all the Battery Optimizations set to manual for both TB and the TB root key app. Sometimes the scheduled task is started when I wake up the phone and sometimes (at night) it's being ignored entirely. I am on rooted Oreo stock but I saw the same on Nougat.

Fixed
khaberz said:
Is anyone else having the issue of TB schedules not being executed when the phone is sleeping? I have set all the Battery Optimizations set to manual for both TB and the TB root key app. Sometimes the scheduled task is started when I wake up the phone and sometimes (at night) it's being ignored entirely. I am on rooted Oreo stock but I saw the same on Nougat.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
OK, fixed it - I had to activate it under Ignore Battery Optimizations

khaberz said:
OK, fixed it - I had to activate it under Ignore Battery Optimizations
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Having the same problem. Where is the option for "Ignore Battery Optimizations", is it a Titanium option or a system option? Thanks

palosanto0 said:
Having the same problem. Where is the option for "Ignore Battery Optimizations", is it a Titanium option or a system option? Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's a system setting, somewhere under the Battery settings. I am not on EMUI anymore, so I can't tell you exactly. However, it didn't fix my problem permanently. I have moved on to LineageOS meanwhile, where these problems don't exist anymore.

khaberz said:
It's a system setting, somewhere under the Battery settings. I am not on EMUI anymore, so I can't tell you exactly. However, it didn't fix my problem permanently. I have moved on to LineageOS meanwhile, where these problems don't exist anymore.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Unfortunately it does not work in my Xiaomi redmi Note 4X.
I found the option to activate "Ignore Battery Optimizations", however if I don't leave the Titanium backup PRO running, the scheduled backups are not performed.
Last week I have been searching internet for a solution, however still I have not found a satisfactory one.
Kind regards and thanks for your advice,
Javi

<deleted - see next post for updated info>

Titanium Backup schedules not executed (or interrupted after being started) and/or its related notifications not being shown appears to be an issue that is caused by crazy additional 'features' as implemented at some devices to improve battery life. This especially happens at OnePlus devices running Oreo (Android 8), but may possibly also appear at devices of other brands (Xiaomi?). Therefore it actually isn't a shortcoming of Titanium Backup itself, but the result of some stupid app handling and killing behaviors that may be active at your device.
Also other apps that should permanently be kept running in background may be impacted by this behavior (being killed for the same reason) like Tasker, Sync-to-cloud apps, etc.
Especially at OnePlus devices running Oreo, following implemented crazy 'optimization' behaviors are playing a role here:
After a user has set Battery optimisation OFF for a specific app, it may automatically be set ON again after a reboot or after the app was updated
Background services may be killed EVEN when for the related app the Battery optimisation was set OFF
The 'Autostart' attribute may be ignored, so apps may be NOT automatically started in background after rebooting your device
SOLUTION
1. Make sure the 'Advanced optimisation' options are disabled
Go to Settings > Battery > Battery optimisation
Click the 3 dots in the upper-right corner and select 'Advanced optimisation'
Verify that the options 'Advanced optimisation' and 'Sleep standby optimisation' are both disabled
2. Set Battery optimisation OFF for any app that should continue to run in background
Go to Settings > Battery > Battery optimisation
Select the app that should never be killed, so in this example: 'Titanium Backup'
Select 'Don't optimize' and click DONE
Nb.
Above is not needed for the 2nd entry 'Titanium Backup PRO', which is just related to your PRO key payment and not the running Titanium Backup process itself.​
However, disabling Battery optimization for an app is NOT enough for preventing that it could be killed when running in background at OnePlus devices!
This not only because the 'Don't optimize' setting may automatically be reverted to 'Optimize' after a reboot or after an update of the app, but EVEN when Battery optimisation is actually disabled it's nevertheless still candidate for being killed at OnePlus devices running Oreo! Therefore also next action is required in addition.
3. Lock the app in your 'Recent Apps' list
Open and then close Titanium Backup (or just touch the Home button at your device after opening the app)
Touch the 'Recent Apps' button at your device
This shows your recent apps, where Titanium Backup will now be included (as last / most recent entry)
Toggle the 'Lock' icon in the upper right corner of that Titanium Backup entry, to switch it to a closed lock icon symbol
(see attached screenshot)
This last action not only just prevents that the app could be removed from your 'Recent Apps' list, but it ALSO prevents the issues as described above, so:
The app will not be killed anymore when running in background
The 'Battery optimisation' setting for that app will not be reverted anymore to 'Optimize' after a reboot or after an update of the app
When done, Titanium Backup schedules should now run as defined. Also, its completion messages shouldn't disappear from your notification entries anymore, but kept until you remove them.
OTHER APPS
Because it's not just a specific Titanium Backup issue but the result of the stupid behavior as implemented at OnePlus devices running Oreo, it's highly recommended to repeat the steps above for any app that should never be killed when running in background (eg. Tasker, Sync-to-cloud apps, Alarm/Alert apps, etc.). Also apps that are making use of scheduled actions, or should awake at incoming messages, chats, mails, alarms, or Security/Anti-virus apps etc. could be candidate of not being able to react properly because they were killed when running in background and/or not started at boot. When such apps doesn't always correctly react/awake at your device, just perform same actions as described above to prevent them to be killed. When an app still doesn't work because it wasn't auto-started at boot, you could use Tasker to create a Tasker-profile that executes a Tasker-task to launch such apps at boot. Start-at-boot via Tasker appears to be not required for Titanium Backup, but for some other apps this was my only option to ensure that they were auto-started after a reboot of my device.
Nb.
Some apps have options included in their internal settings like 'Keep active in background', 'Run in Foreground' or 'Turn off battery optimisation'. Even when these types of internal app settings are selected, they could still be killed at some device brands (eg. OnePlus) when the actions as described above aren't implemented in addition for such apps.
OnePlus: Never settle, but also never be so stubborn...

Thanks
Much appreciated for the fix.
Never thought about locking the app, great idea ?

Just stumbled over this post through a link. Many thanks for the info; in my case it's not only TB that's effected but also several other apps like OruxMaps and Automagic.
For completeness I post some screenshots from OnePlus 6 / OOS 9.0.4 (Pie) showing the changed recent apps screens and dialogs (in German, but I guess you'll get the picture)

paarnoutse said:
Titanium Backup schedules not executed....
OnePlus: Never settle, but also never be so stubborn...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i was wondering why titanium is not executed in months.. and killed shortly even when i run it manually.
settings were great:
- no battery optimization
- no data optimization
- tons of free memory on RAM boasting 1+ (funny isn't it)
- recent app management=normal clear
- standby check=exempted
- keep activities
- deep optimization turned off
- sleep standby optimization turned off
and still it didn't help until i LOCKed the app. this is why 1+ and xiaomis achieve better battery scores than samsung

doggydog2 said:
...this is why 1+ and xiaomis achieve better battery scores than samsung
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
(Spoiler: heavy OT post)
...which is what I really love about my 1+: 3 - 4 days between charging aren't rare here.
For the very few apps that are having probs (like track recording) with heavy battery optimization I wrote myself a script (am using automagic, but this should be also possible with Tasker etc) to disable deep opt. then start my critical app. Works great for me, but as always: ymmv

I can't find the setting to lock an app in the recent list in Android 10. Anyone know how to do it?

James_Oakley said:
I can't find the setting to lock an app in the recent list in Android 10. Anyone know how to do it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Each tile you see in the recents screen should show the app title and the usual three dots to open a pop-up menu. There you can lock the app, show app details etc

lm089 said:
Each tile you see in the recents screen should show the app title and the usual three dots to open a pop-up menu. There you can lock the app, show app details etc
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for taking the time to reply. Appreciate it.
Still not seeing it.
Where do I click?

James_Oakley said:
Thanks for taking the time to reply. Appreciate it.
Still not seeing it.
Where do I click?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Your screenshot shows the app settings. You need to bring up the "recents" screen instead. If you're using the standard navigation bar that is the square button at the right end of the nav bar (screenshot #1, blue mark).
Then you flip through your recently opened apps until you find the one you're looking for. From then on it's as I described before: tap the 3 dots (screenshot #1, red mark). in the pop up menu select the "lock" entry (screenshot #2, green mark)
=== UPDATE: added some screenshots ===

lm089 said:
Your screenshot shows the app settings. You need to bring up the "recents" screen instead. If you're using the standard navigation bar that is the square button at the right end of the nav bar (screenshot #1, blue mark).
Then you flip through your recently opened apps until you find the one you're looking for. From then on it's as I described before: tap the 3 dots (screenshot #1, red mark). in the pop up menu select the "lock" entry (screenshot #2, green mark)
=== UPDATE: added some screenshots ===
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks - got it. When I read about "recents" in this thread earlier, I assumed it was when you go to Settings > Apps and you're first shown a list of recent apps. I've now got what everyone is talking about, thanks to your patient explaining. I'm sure this will help others too. On my phone, there's no nav bar it's all done with gestures, so you swipe up from the bottom of the screen - then lock Titanium in place. Bingo, and thank you.