Sure, Apple kicked off the smartphone revolution with the iPhone and IOS. But Google took it a step further with Android. Making it open-source and allowing competition to come in. It’s been over a decade and a half since all these. And as you know, both Android and iOS have gotten way better. 

After a decade and a half of updates and new features, there are bound to be some very useful features that have gone unnoticed in Android. So in this post, we’ll show you five supremely useful Android tips and tricks.

Top 5 Useful Android Tips And Tricks

Application Quick Shortcuts

A pretty neat trick your Android ships with is quick application shortcuts. It allows you to quickly perform in-app tasks. All you have to do is press and hold the app. Then a small menu with the apps' shortcuts will pop up.

For instance, if you received a new follower notification from Instagram and want to quickly view Activity. Instead of opening the Instagram app and then tapping the Activity Icon below the screen. Simply press and hold the Instagram app, and the shortcuts menu will pop up. When you tap View Activity, Instagram will open on the Activity page.

Mute Call Gesture

Let's say you're having an important conversation with someone, and then your phone starts ringing. And you want to quickly stop it from ringing. Instead of cutting the call or lowering the volume. 

You can just pick up your phone and turn it face down to mute the call.

Google Where Your Phone is

Yes, you read that right. If you misplace your device or think a thief has made off with it. You can hop onto another device that you’re signed into with the same Google account. And search for "Find My Device."

Right in your browser, it’ll show you the location of your device.

On the find my device result page, you are

given two options. Select "ring" and your phone will start ringing until you stop it. Choose "Recover it" if you suspect your phone has been stolen and you’ll be redirected to the phone recovery page.

For this feature to work, you’ll have to turn on Find My Device in your settings. To turn on Find My Device, you'll have to

1. Go to the Settings menu.

2. Navigate to Google

3. Tap "Find My Device."

4. Toggle it on. 

Split-Screen Chrome Tabs

Ever wanted to use two Chrome tabs at the same time? Well, this tip will show you exactly how to do that. To do this,

First, open up the Chrome app, then go to Recent Apps. Tap the Chrome icon and select "open in split screen view." Choose any random app to be the second screen. Then click the three dots at the top right end of Chrome. You’ll see an option to create a "new window". Press it, and you’ll have two tabs open in split screen.

You can take this a little bit further. 

By pressing the three dots in the top right corner and choosing "Move to Other Window," you can slide the tab on the top screen to the bottom. 

And the most recent page or tab accessed will return to the top tab.

Read Articles Out

This is a pretty cool trick that allows you to get any article opened on your handset’s browser read out to you. Without installing any apps, this is a trick that will come in handy every once in a while.

To do this trick, Open up your browser. Go to the article you want to be read out loud to you. Then say "Hey Google'' or swipe diagonally from the bottom side of your cell phone. Once the Google assistant is active, just say, "Read this article." And it’ll scan the article and start reading it out loud to you.

A player will appear as soon as the piece begins to be read out. 

You can speed up reading, pause/play, and move forward or backward using the player.