Millions of Android fans must not ignore three free upgrades – not using them is a waste

YOUR Android phone is more clever than you probably realise.

It’s no surprise that Google’s smartphone software is very clever – and there are plenty of hidden tricks that you won’t want to miss.

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The Sun has found three essential “life hack” upgrades that millions of Android phone owners can try today.

You won’t need to pay a penny for these clever tricks either, which is always good news.

Android trick #1 – pin it!

Have you ever let someone use your phone and worried that they might start roaming?

Maybe you want to keep your texts, photos or other apps private.

Or perhaps you’re a parent and you don’t want your child stumbling across something on your phone that they shouldn’t.

Thankfully there’s a way to lock someone onto one app, so they can’t snoop on other parts of your Android handset.

Go into Settings, tap Security or Security & Location > Advanced > App Pinning.

You can then turn on App Pinning.

Once that’s done, you’re free to pin and unpin any app.

First go to the app that you want to pin, then swipe up to the middle of your screen.

Then tap the app icon at the top of the image, and press Pin.

You can swipe up and hold to unpin a screen, but you’ll have to enter your passcode to do so.

This stops people from leaving the pinned app and roaming free on your device.

Android trick #2 – hide away

Google has designed Android to let you hide apps.

Maybe you’re dating and you want to keep it a secret.

Or perhaps you’ve got a Candy Crush addiction that you’re not proud of.

Similarly, you might have a TV app that you don’t want children to see.

Hiding apps won’t delete them from your Android phone.

It just means they don’t appear in their normal place when you’re browsing.

And even if you search for the app using the launcher, it won’t be there.

Go into Settings and then look for your Home Screen section.

Tap that and then scroll down until you see Hide Apps.

Now taping Hide Apps and choose the apps that you want to hide.

You can also swipe up on the Home Screen to open the app launcher.

Then tap on the menu icon in the corner and go to Settings > Hide Apps.

After that, the process is the same.

You can unhide and re-hide apps at any time, and as often as you’d like.

Android trick #3 – hidden keyboard

There are plenty of times you’d expect to type with one hand on an Android.

Maybe you’re clinging on to the strap on a bus or train, or perhaps you’re holding a cup of coffee.

Whatever the reason, Google has built a special trick into the Android operating system to help you out.

It’s called the one-handed keyboard, and that’s as good a description as any.

First, open an app where you need to type, and then get the keyboard up on screen.

Now tap the ellipsis icon (three dots) above the keyboard.

Next choose the One-Handed option, which will shrink the keyboard and squash it to one side of the screen.

You can switch to the other side by using the left or right arrow.

This should make it significantly easier to type with one hand.

You can use the icon with four arrows pointing away from each other to expand the keyboard back to its original state.

This post first appeared on Thesun.co.uk