How To Find Apps That Have Been Hidden

Here'south how to Access Hidden Settings on your Phone

Depending on what flavor of Android your phone is based on, yous might be stuck with a settings page that is… a bit of a mess to say the least.

For that reason, Google introduced a search feature in the settings app starting with Android 5.0 Lollipop.

Settings App Search Bill of fare

All the same, there are a few settings screens that are inaccessible from this search bar. These are activities that are able to be called within the Settings app, still, they crave you to directly invoke them as the manufacturer has not otherwise provided a user-accessible link. The easiest style to launch these settings are to use an app like Activity Launcher, merely Nova Launcher/Tasker and other apps are able to access these activities as well. What hidden menus you lot are able to access differs across devices, but here are a few examples that I've constitute on the Nexus 6P (that should be attainable on most Android phones) also as a few that are specific to the Huawei P9.

Notification Log

Did y'all know that Android logs all of your notifications? Since Android 4.3, Google has tucked abroad a hidden settings page called theNotification log that lists every notification received with the notification's championship, condition bar icon, originating app, and time the notification was posted. Unfortunately, the log does not record detailed information about a notification so you're unable to see the exact contents of a Hangouts message, for instance. This settings page tin can be establish atcom.android.settings.Settings$NotificationStationActivity.

Detailed Cellular/Network Data and App Usage Statistics

There is a subconscious "Testing" settings page (com.android.settings.TestingSettings) that tin can be readily accessed by many Android phones. Within the settings screen here, y'all are able to view detailed information virtually your current cellular and WiFi collection as well as app usage statistics. Inside thePhone Datafolio (directly accessible via com.android.settings.RadioInfo), for instance, you tin can see a listing of nearby cellular towers (I've redacted that function in my screenshot because the list is very large), your bespeak strength, and some network testing information such as successful packets sent/received. In addition, you lot can fix your preferred network type, disable the cellular radio (effectively the same as enabling airplane mode, without toggling WiFi/Bluetooth), and change some other network settings. Be warned that these network settings are hidden for a reason, sodo non change whatever settings unless yous are absolutely sure you know what you're doing.

Next up is theUsage Statistics (directly accessible via com.android.settings.UsageStatsActivity) screen. Hither, we accept a page that provides us some basic data about how much time we spend using certain apps. Android logs and lists your app usage and allows you to sort by usage time, last time the app was used, or by app name. It'due south a quick and piece of cake way to see what apps you regularly apply without having to give permission to a third political party app to track your habits. And yes, it persists across reboots.

Finally, there's the hidden WiFi settings page (directly accessible viacom.android.settings.wifi.WifiInfoor by entering *#*#4636#*#* in the dialer). There's not much useful information to be gleaned here for the average user, though. The WiFi API page lists a few options that developers tin employ to pull information about the device'due south WiFi connection, only there's nothing for you to use. The WiFi Config page provides a ton of information about your currently configured WiFi networks, though, so if that information is relevant to yous so you'll enjoy this folio. Finally, the Wifi Status page provides a more condensed version of your Wifi configuration and even allows you to run a quick ping test to test your connexion.

Note: You must hit "Refresh Stats" to see detailed data.

Huawei P9-Specific Settings

Here's where things get interesting. Device manufacturers often hide specific settings of their own, and just like the in a higher place few activities you'll have to do some digging to find some of these. For Huawei's P9, here are a few that I've found.

USB OTG Toggle

Now here'southward an oddball characteristic. Apparently, there's a hidden toggle that was supposed to be used to enable/disable USB OTG (and by default the option is off) just for some reason information technology was left out of the settings app. As far as I know, USB OTG works regardless of whether or not the option is enabled in this screen. Perhaps Huawei originally intended to disable the characteristic by default, but then decided against information technology?

Signal Icon Style

This setting allows you lot to change the behavior of the signal icon, depending on how many SIM cards you have inserted (the Huawei P9 accepts two SIMs).

Time Display Mode

This setting lets you choose whether or not you want to brandish the timestamp seen in calls, messages, and agenda in local time or Beijing time. I'one thousand not sure why this menu exists, but if you need it it'south in that location to utilize.

Sound Balance

Here's an interesting ane that was subconscious past Huawei: a sound balancing feature. Supposedly, you lot are supposed to be able to command the left/right sound residuum using this slider, but I couldn't hear any difference. Perchance Huawei scrapped this feature partway through evolution, so we might see it in a future Huawei phone.

Now that we've gone through a few of the hidden settings activities likewise as how to access them, you should try digging through your phone's settings app to see if you lot can detect anything interesting. Who knows, at that place could be a really useful characteristic that was cut at the terminal minute!

Give it a shot and let us know what you notice in the comments below.