5 Hidden Features on Android Marshmallow You Don’t Know About
Google introduced Android Marshmallow last year in May 2015 at Google I/O as a substantial improvement update over Lollipop. However, there weren’t a lot of additions in general that were visible to the user directly. Some of these are embedded so deep that most people haven’t even discovered them yet. Here are five such hidden features on Android Marshmallow you don’t know about.
1. Get Native File Manager on Android 6.0
With the Marshmallow update, Google added an official explorer, although it has not been made easily accessible for the normal user out there.
To access it, you’ll have to head into the settings menu and then “Storage & USB”. Tap the Internal storage or SD card option and once you do, you can find “Explore” at the end of that page. It comes packed with all the features including moving, copying and deleting.
2. Translate Text From the Hidden Option in Copy/Paste Menu
The Copy/Paste menu has been significantly updated to provide better accessibility. You can also translate text directly to multiple languages through that, something which a lot of users miss. For translating text, tap those three dots after selecting some characters and there you’ll discover the “Translate” item. You can transcribe stuff to an endless number of languages, now you don’t need a separate app for that.
3. Modify Application Links
Whenever, you click a link, system either redirects to the website or if there’s an app, it asks you to open that. However, on Android 6.0, Google offers full control over those connections. You can alter what URLs a particular app is linked it and whether Android should ask your preference every time. To do so, head into the “Apps” settings and click the little icon present at the top. Finally, tap “App links” in the list.
4. Use System UI Tuner to Customize Notification Drawer
This hidden feature lets you customize status bar and widgets in notification drawer, almost same as what Cyanogenmod offers.
To enable this feature, pull down the quick settings by either swiping down the notifications bar twice or do a 2 finger swipe from top of the screen. On the right side, you will find gear icon which normally takes to you the settings. Tap and hold it there for few seconds until it spins. You will then receive a popup that “System UI Tuner has been added to the settings” as in below image.
That’s all. Go back to settings, scroll down and you will see a new item at the bottom. Open it, acknowledge the experimental warning and you are good to customize the notification drawer.
5. Automatic App Data Restore
Changing a phone? No worries, Google has you covered with all the tremendous application data you’ve generated over the usage. Head into the “Backup and Reset” settings option and under that, make sure “Backup my data” is turned on. Once done, turn on “Automatic Restore” which will get your data back from the cloud every time you reinstall the application.
Android always had the sync feature, but it was limited to Google account and apps data. The Marshmallow saves all your Android settings, home screen layout and app settings along with its data. The restore option will now function as getting a mirror copy of your previous phone state.
That was all. Let us know which hidden Marshmallow feature you like the most in comments section below.
