It’s easier than you think to change default apps on your Android
If you’ve ever purchased a phone, you know how easy it is to get caught up in customizing your settings. Whether it is your background image or default browser, there are many ways to personalize your device.
Android is one type of phone with a wide variety of customization settings. While default settings may be convenient for a while, you don’t have to confine yourself to them. Tap or click here to quickly access the secret menu on your Android phone.
Given that Android phones have a variety of customization settings available, we have outlined the following ways to take advantage of them.
How to change default apps on Android
If you have more than one app that does the same thing, you can pick which app to use by default. For example, if you have multiple messaging apps, you can choose the default one.
NOTE: Some of these steps work only on Android 9 and up.
To see a list of default apps:
- Open your phone’s Settings app.
- Tap Apps > Default apps.
- Tap the default that you want to change.
- Tap the app that you want to use by default.
Browser app
Although Google Chrome is the default browser on most Android devices, it is easy to change if preferred. If you’d like to switch, there are a few options.
Some examples of other browsers that you can use are Mozilla Firefox, Brave and Opera. Tap or click here for the five best browsers not named Chrome to use with your Android phone.
To make this change, take the following steps:
- On your Android, open Settings.
- Tap Apps & notifications.
- At the bottom, tap Advanced.
- Tap Default apps.
- Tap Browser App and select the browser you want to be the default.
Caller ID & spam app
By default, Android has a built-in caller ID & spam protection feature, which essentially filters unwanted spam calls. This feature makes it so that you’re no longer notified if spam calls attempt to reach you.
If you’d like to disable this feature, here’s how:
- On your device, open the Phone app.
- Tap More options > Settings > Spam and Call Screen.
- Turn See caller & spam ID on or off.
Android also allows you to report and block spam calls.
If you’d like to do this, take the following steps:
- Open the Phone app.
- Tap Recents.
- Find the call that you’d like to mark as spam.
- Tap Block/report spam.
- Tap Report call as spam.
- Select Block to block the phone number.
Digital assistant app
Android devices are automatically set to Google for their digital assistant needs. But you can pick from a variety of other alternatives if you so desire. These alternatives include Firefox, DuckDuckGo, or Opera.
To make the change, you can do the following:
- Open Settings.
- Select Apps and notifications.
- Tap Advanced toward the bottom of the page.
- Tap Default apps.
- Select Assist and voice input toward the top of the page.
- Tap OK in response to the pop-up.
- Ensure that this new option is toggled to On in the Assist app.
Messages app
The default texting app for Android is Messages. Here’s how to change it:
- Open your device’s Settings app.
- Tap Apps > Default apps > SMS app.
- Choose the messaging app that you’d like to use.
Tags: alternatives, Android, Brave, browser, customization, default apps, digital assistant, DuckDuckGo, Firefox, Google, Google Chrome, messages, messages app, messaging app, Mozilla Firefox, Opera, settings, spam calls
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