7 Settings I Turn Off Every Time I Set Up a New Android Phone

There's nothing quite like the feeling of unwrapping your shiny new Android device. The plastic peel, the shiny, mirror-like display that reflects a slightly regretful face that just spent so much on a device and the promise of faster speeds all make it an exciting process. But for me, the real setup begins after the initial setup.

Before going through the ritual of fully setting up my Android phone, I tame the device by turning off many default settings that manufacturers set for the average user. I want the phone to work for me, not for an advertiser, and I certainly don't want it "optimising" away my important notifications. So, here are the seven settings I change or turn off every single time on a new Android device, without fail.

1

Disable lock screen "Glance" ads

Ads on the lock screen are a no-go for me, and it's the most obvious and offensive offender. The "feature" essentially hijacks your lock screen with a carousel of adverts or, these days, AI-generated bloat. It's visual spam, wastes data, and I never asked for it. However, most smartphone brands let you disable "Glance" or whatever the lock screen bloat is called in their UIs in just a few steps.

Ideally, flagship and higher mid-range phones don't come with Glance or lock screen ads. But with brands like Nothing, who were once considered the pinnacle of clean software, adding bloat to its phone lock screens, it's better to check. The easiest way to do it is by going to Settings > Home screen & lock screen and looking for an option called "Glance".

In some UIs, it's called "Lock screen magazine", "Wallpaper carousel" or "Wallpaper services". All you need to do is tap on them and select None to disable them. You can turn off Glance on Samsung phones and disable Lock Glimpse on Nothing phones with ease.

2

Reclaim privacy by turning off Usage & Diagnostics

In a phase of technology where most say privacy is a myth, it doesn't necessarily mean you still need to give away device-related information even if it's for "diagnostics". Your Android phone reports crash data, app usage and other information to Google and the phone's manufacturer. By doing that, it also builds an advertising profile that may serve you personalised ads. And one of the first things I do is to opt out of all of it.

To turn off Ads tracking, you can head over to Settings > Google > Ads and tap on Delete advertising ID. To disable Diagnostics, head over to Settings > Google, tap on the 3-dots icon, go to Usage & diagnostics and disable the Usage & diagnostics toggle. You can go one step ahead and block ads on Android using a private DNS or by using a better web browser.

3

Avoid missing important notifications

This one can drive anyone insane. If it's been a few days since you bought the phone and noticed you get bombarded by notifications once you pick up the device in the morning, that's because Standby Battery Optimisation is enabled.

To squeeze out a few extra minutes of battery life, manufacturers tune their UI's to aggressively "optimise" apps by putting them to sleep. The result? I end up missing important notifications from WhatsApp, Slack and Gmail.

The good news is that it's extremely easy to turn off the feature. All you need to do is go to Settings > Battery > App battery usage and turn off Sleep standby optimisation. In case of manufacturers like OnePlus, Oppo, Realme, Vivo and iQOO, the option might be hidden inside the Power Saving settings.

That's it! No delayed notifications, right? Wrong. The issues with notifications sometimes extend to the app's behaviour. Sleep standby optimisation is one layer, but Android has another, and you need to set the behaviour to Unrestricted by going to Apps > App name > Battery usage.

4

Silence the notifcation spam

Not all notifications are made equal. I want my food delivery app to tell me my food is arriving and not "Remember the food you dislike? Yeah, there's 20% off on it". One of the most underrated features in Android is Notification Channels, which offer a granular solution to notification spam.

Getting started with the feature is much easier than it sounds. Once I set up all the apps on my new Android phone, I wait for the first scapegoat app, and in most cases it's either Swiggy, Zomato or another delivery app.

When you receive a spam notification, long-press and tap on the Settings cogwheel. You can then start disabling the notifications that you don't want to see. Most often, spam notifications can be put to an end by disabling the Miscellaneous toggle.

5

Get rid of the junk apps

The explanation from brands that "We include only useful apps" doesn't justify the presence of apps like Meta Services, Facebook or Instagram. While it's a bummer that some of these apps cannot be uninstalled, those who do get the Uninstall option are usually the first ones to go. 

For those that aren't un-installable, you can long-press on them and tap on the App info option or icon. Then hit Disable to stop unwanted apps from running and remove them from the app drawer.

6

Make the Power Button... a Power Button

A recent and infuriating trend has been seen on a phone's Power button, which invokes Gemini or other digital assistants. Now, as someone who's been using Android for ages, I liked the Power button better when it actually acted like a Power button and brought up the Power menu.

Besides, I believe there are multiple gestures to invoke the assistant already. Fortunately, brands still allow you to remap the button to the Power menu again. To do this, head over to Settings > System > Gestures, tap on the Press and hold power button option and select Power menu. On a Samsung phone, this setting is usually found in Advanced features > Side key.

7

Make my Photos look real again

This might be a controversial take, but the Ultra HDR option is one of the first things I disable in the camera app of my Android phone. For those unaware, it's a feature that makes photos look bright and vibrant on HDR-compatible screens.

I've never been a huge fan of modern smartphone processing algorithms, as they make images look artificial. Ultra HDR dials up that artificial feel to eleven. Besides, one of their attributes that we don't talk about enough is how the brightness unexpectedly blinds users and makes looking at the screen very uncomfortable.

To turn off Ultra HDR, head over to your camera app and go to Settings > Advanced settings and turn off the Ultra HDR toggle.

And with those seven steps done, the phone is now free of bloat and should function properly. It's cleaner, faster and more private. More importantly, it works for me, not against me.