10 Tips &Tricks That Every Android Lollipop User Must Know

So you like to mess up with your Android and have installed Lollipop on your device. Have you installed it officially or non-offcially? If your device haven’t received a Lollipop official update consider yourself lucky because you can install a Custom ROM based on Android Lollipop which in most of the cases it can be better than the official update since Custom ROMs are optimised for better performance and are free off bloatware. If you are interested, you can visit our Custom ROM Section and if your device is not on the list let us know in the comment section below, so we will try to find the best Android Lollipop Custom ROM for your device.

In this article we are going to talk about what you can do with your device after you have installed Lollipop. This version of Android is full of features and optimizations that if you know how to mess up with your Lollipop device in a right way, you can make it awesome. Here you will going to find some tricks to improve your phone performance, play with user interface and install the most needed apps.

The next sweetest Google release is a little tricky but if you like to experience new things in Android world, you are in the right place. At first after installing Lollipop on your device you may feel a little overwhelmed due to the fact that Lollipop is full of changes and optimizations and you might need a little help to understand it and that’s why you are here reading this article. We have described some of the best features of Lollipop below you should know immediately.

1 – To begin we will start with Screen Pinning. Let’s admit it, Google has done a great job with Lollipop when it comes to small details that can be very useful in some cases. As a company who intend to give its users as much possibilities it can, Google offers new features in every Android version release. Screen Pinning is a feature that allows you to lock your phone in only one app. This can be very useful, because even if you can use a lock screen pattern or pin, when someone ask you to make a phone call or send a SMS, he also can do anything else with your phone.

Screen Pinning doesn’t allow that. You might give the phone to another person to navigate on internet or open Facebook, but thanks to this amazing feature you can lock the phone so the other person can’t do anything else in your phone, only what he asked you to do. Some if someone asks you to use internet browser, you can pin this app and then give your device. So the other person can’t do anything else except to navigate on internet.

To activate Screen Pinning go to Settings > Security > Screen Pinning. Then open the app you want to pinn and press Overview (multitasking)  button. Scroll up and tap the blue thumb tack icon in the bottom right corner. To unpin the app long press back and overview button simultaneously.

2 – The second point you should be interested is Notification Settings. Google has created a new Notification System giving its user more control than ever in Notification and how they will work. You can configure all apps to send notifications depending on time and place you are. Also you can customize each app to send notifications only if you want them to appear. Since Lollipop offer on screen notifications, you may not want all notifications to appear on the screen, depending on the app which is sending notifications.

There are three option for each app: priority, block and sensitive.

• Priority – Show notifications and let them through.
• Block – The app will never send you notifications.
• Sensitive – Content is not displayed in lock screen.

You can adjust these settings by long pressing in any notification and then select the (i) icon and you will go to notification settings. Also you can go to Settings > Sound & Notifications > App Notifications.

3 – Play Flappy Lollipop. All Android versions come with a special “Easter Egg” in settings. Usually it has been a simple splash screen with some interactive elements. but in Lollipop, Google has included a Android game similar to Flappy Bird. To play the game go to Settings > About Phone/Tablet > Tap Quickly  5 Times on Android Version. The second way is to tap the Lollipop a couple of times > Long Press > Tap Once. The game has a beautiful interface and it will be fun to play.

4 – Do Not Disturb. A new mode named as “Do Not Disturb” is added to Lollipop. We have seen this mode in iPhone devices for a long time even with a dedicated button, but Google decided to add a feature like this only on Android Lollipop. Do Not Disturb is like Silent Mode. When you press the Volume Down Button you will a see a option “None”. This is what we are referring as “Do Not Disturb” Mode. When you activate this Mode you can be calm, nothing will disturb you. Even alarms will be stopped by activating this mode. You can set it definitely or for a couple of hours.

5 – Jump To Specific Settings From Quick Settings. Android Lollipop between many features and changes comes also with a new and improved Quick Settings. Tapping an icon in Quick Settings will open the specific app. So if you are using WiFi and in Quick Settings you tap on WiFi icon than it will open WiFi Settings. Or if you have an alarm turned on you can tap in and immediately you will go to alarms app. Tapping the little profile photo will open users account and you can easily switch the account if you have more than one.

6 – Search For Settings. Android in generally has a lot of settings but Lollipop has much more. This can be good for those who want to customize almost everything. In the other hand this can be a real nightmare for other customers. So it was needed to create a simple way to make user easy to find specific setting.  Google has always improved the settings user experience but this time, in Lollipop it has added the ability to search. When you go to Settings app, you will see a search icon in top right. It appears in most of the pages within the settings app. You can search there to find settings without need to digg in each page.

7 – Choose Who Get Priority. In the beginning of the post we talk about the priority mode which will put notifications for apps added in “Priority Mode” in top of the list. You can choose certain people to get through Priority Mode. Go to Settings > Sounds & Notification > Interruptions. Under a section titled “Priority Interruptions” you can choose who gets through “Priority Mode”. You are free to choose whatever you want like messages and calls from everyone, a specific contact or only peoples in your contact list. This can be a good idea if you don’t want to be bothered by you want to be reached by some peoples like you bos.

8 – Battery Saver. It’s the best new feature in Lollipop. Battery Saver Mode can help you to make your battery last for a couple of hours more when you really need it. It is a feature that will reduce phone performance when it’s enabled. Other actions it will take is to turn off vibrations, block most background data. Battery saver can be turned manually or automatically when the battery is at certain percentage like 5% or 15% depending on your choice. When it’s activated the status bar and navigation bar turn orange-red. Go to Settings > Battery > Tap the menu button to set up battery saver.

9 – Guest Mode. Google want to make users feel safe, so it has included another security feature in Lollipop except Screen Pinning. It is enabled by default and can be accessed through Settings > Users. Once you click on “Guest” it will open a fresh instance of Android with only stock apps installed. In Guest Mode your installed apps and data are safe. It is like you have a new phone with no personal information. In this mode you can restrict making calls by tapping the gear icon from the Users page.

10 – Smart Lock let’s you tell your phone when it’s safe. This is another feature that will protect you phone from unwanted persons. You can make your phone to trust you. To do that there are three simple ways.

1. Trusted devices. You can add any NFC or Bluetooth device here. When one of those devices is connected the lock screen is disabled.
2. Trusted face. This is a feature similar to “Face Unlock”. After scanning your face it will look for you every time you unlock your device. If it recognizes you than the lock screen is disabled.
3. Trusted Places. In this option you will have the chance to add locations to your Google account. When you are in those locations the lock screen security will be disabled.

With these three features you don’t have to enter a password or other lock screen security, when you are in a safe place like home. To enable Smart Lock go to Settings > Security > Smart Lock.