I turned off 5 settings on my Android smartphone and it finally feels mine
I turned off 5 settings on my Android smartphone and it finally feels mine
Publish Date: 2026-05-17 00:30:00
Source Domain: www.digit.in
Android phones these days come packed with a plethora of smart features. While most of them only get activated when you turn them on, a few of them are enabled by default. Such features can quietly run in the background from the day you turn on your device. Most of us never really stop them because they arrive enabled by default, and either we don’t know about them or feel too lazy to just turn them off. I’m no different from most of you guys, as I’ve also used my device in a similar fashion for years, thinking the clutter, random suggestions, and constant interruptions were just part of the Android experience. Until recently, when I simply got irritated and decided to put an end to it. After spending some time inside the settings app on my phone, I realised many of these features can be disabled and are something I never actually used or asked for.
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Surprisingly, my phone started feeling calmer and cleaner within a day. I disabled some of the default settings on my smartphone. For starters the home screen of my device stopped looking messy, notifications felt less stressful, and I finally felt like my phone was working for me instead of deciding things on its own. While none of these changes were dramatic, when clubbed, they made everyday use much more comfortable. Here are the five Android settings I switched off and why I do not think I am turning them back on anytime soon.
Note: I’ve used the OnePlus 15 for the demonstration purposes, and the steps may differ depending on your device.
1. App suggestions in the dock and app drawer
One thing that always bothered me and I believe you could also relate to is how my phone kept trying to predict which apps I wanted to open next. Sometimes I would notice unfamiliar apps appearing in the dock area at the bottom of the screen. Most of the time, those apps were not even installed on my device….
