**Making the Most of Your Smartphone**

If you tap on the brightest areas before taking a photo, your phone will do its best to ensure that even the brightest parts of the image are controlled, and while the rest of the image may be a bit darker, the details are still recoverable using a little bit of editing. This can be especially helpful when posting text-heavy photos or videos on social media platforms like Instagram. If you're about to post a photo or video with a lot of text, you can use something called a translucent overlay. Instead of just showing the raw file by tapping at the highlighter, picking your color, and then holding down on the screen, it will add a layer of color with 70% opacity, ensuring that any text is clearly visible.

**Enhancing Security**

Anyone with a fingerprint scanner should take advantage of this feature by adding their fingerprint at least three times, not for three different fingers but in fact three different angles of the same finger. The reason for this is that most scanners have a failure rate of about 3-5%. By using three versions of the same finger, the chance that at least one of them doesn't match up with the finger you place on your screen is closer to 1%. For those who use YouTube Mobile, there's a dark mode option which not only looks cool but also saves battery while being less strenuous on the eyes.

**Powering Your Phone**

If you lose your original phone charger, don't worry – you can use the MacBook USB type-C charger as a substitute. The power that is delivered to your phone will adjust depending on the requirements of your device. When it comes to social media, if someone is getting on your nerves, take advantage of the mute feature. This stops you from seeing their notifications and messages without making it as obvious as just straight-up blocking them.

**Sending Files**

You can use send anywhere to send pretty much anything – photos, videos, contacts, files, or even songs. There's no file size limit, so you could send every single song you've ever downloaded or every single photo and video you've ever taken by adding an asterisk on either end. You can also send bold text on WhatsApp to stress a point without screaming at the other person using all caps.

**Documenting Yourself**

If you need to send yourself a scanned copy of your passport, there's an application called Tiny Scanner that allows you to do just that. Simply scan your passport with this app and add some sort of memorable subject header to the email, and the image will look like it was scanned in with a printer. Having your passport with you wherever you go is very useful, whether it's for improving your age or filling out forms on the go.

**Sharing Connections**

Surprisingly, the fastest way to share a URL is not to try and select it by clicking on it but to hit the share button after which you'll see an option to copy URL to clipboard. Mobile data hotspots allow you to share your data connection with other devices that may not have one, but using an application called Net can also share a Wi-Fi connection.

**Managing Files**

Most people on Android never actually need to install a separate file manager because by default, Android has one built into it. If you head into Storage settings, you can explore your folders from there and create a settings shortcut which is an icon on your home screen that attracts you to a certain part of the Settings menus.

**Customizing Your Experience**

Wi-Fi and Bluetooth settings keep your phone in airplane mode overnight for several reasons – it saves power, prevents notifications from reducing the quality of your sleep, and keeps cell phone radiation to a minimum. Another tip is to not turn off the airplane mode until you're at your desk and ready to work, which means you won't spend half an hour in the morning looking through Instagram feeds.

**Customizing Your Browser**

If you don't already have it, you can install a home button on Chrome for Android. This allows you to quickly flick back to whatever your default search pages are. There's also a hidden option to save webpages as PDF files, which means you'll be able to read them offline, edit them, and send them to anyone else, knowing that they'll keep the same formatting.

**Conclusion**

That's it for today's article – I hope you found these tips helpful in making the most of your smartphone. Whether it's taking better photos, enhancing security, or sharing connections, there are many ways to get more out of your device. Happy using!

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: endid you know that you can dial back your last caller by just hitting the dial button although if you swipe on the address bar when using Chrome you can flip between your tabs welcome to the complete collection of smart phone hacks and that I use intended for Android but a lot of these can also be used on iPhone get ready to be enlightened one of the first things people seem to ask me when they come over is what is your Wi-Fi password now this can get a little bit annoying so as a solution you can go to a website called QR strathcom and enter your Wi-Fi details this will turn them into a QR code that guests can scan and automatically connect to your Wi-Fi if you're ever suffering from signal difficulties if you turn on airplane mode and then turn it off again your firm will reconnect to the closest cell tower screen pinning allows you to hand a phone to your friend and be rest assured that they're not going to go snooping around when you pin an application then the person can only use that app and they will be able to exit to home or do anything else until you unlock your phone again for the photography buffs one of the greatest hacks I've ever used comes from Adobe Lightroom this is one of the most powerful photo editing apps with a feature called noise reduction which as the name suggests takes your grainy photos and uses a sophisticated denoising algorithm and at the cost of a little bit of sharpness completely turns a grainy photo around take advantage of do not disturb mode in fact by default when I setup a new phone I always turn this feature on I'll set it so that phone calls and alarms will get through but for the rest of my non-urgent notifications I'll make it so I see them when I have time to see them not when they demand my attention fans of the Marvel Universe might like to try the Doctor Strange open your camera and put it into panorama mode and then slowly move up the person's body you need to tell them to move their arms out at once when you reach their chest and then once more when you reach their throat the effect is worth the effort adding your contact details onto your lock screen is pretty self-explanatory but also quite often overlooked it essentially means that if you ever lost your phone you can rely on the goodwill of humanity to get it back too you 90% at the time and speaking of contact details most people when they're using a phone will probably type in their email address several times a day so it really makes sense to set a keyboard shortcut when I setup a new phone one of the first things I do is make it so that typing at the word email results in my full email address appearing say you're using Google Maps to direct you somewhere but your phone's battery is seriously flagging what you can do is instead of keeping the Maps app open and using GPS and data just take a screenshot of your route they won't update in real time but if in most cases is still enough to help you find your way something I've ended up using as a lump quite a few times is the flashlight on my smartphone but the problem with it is that it's a very focused beam of light so it's not great at lighting up a room if you place a bottle or a glass filled with water on top of it though this disperses the light try to use some sort of blue light filter if you're not keen on shelling out for a specialized screen protector that filters out blue light then at least try and use the icon for mode built into most devices this will reduce the brightness of your screen as well as the amount of blue light being emitted and if you're using your phone late in the evening will help your body better get ready for sleep when you're taking a landscape photo try tapping on the brightest area before snapping the reason for this is that generally speaking smartphones are more prone to over exposing images than under exposing and when something is overexposed detail in the bright areas is lost permanently if you then tap on the brightest areas before taking the photo your phone will do its absolute best to make sure that even the brightest parts of the image are kept under control and while the rest of the image will be a bit darker as a result the details are still there and are all recoverable using a little bit of editing if you're about to post a text heavy photo or video Instagram story you can use something called a translucent overlay so instead of just showing the raw file by tapping at the highlighter picking your color and then holding down on the screen it'll add a layer of color with 70% opacity so the any text will be clearly visible anyone with a fingerprint scanner should add their fingerprint at least three times not for three different fingers but in fact three different angles of the same finger the reason is that most scanners have a failure rate of about three to five percent but if you add three versions of the same finger then the chance that at least one of them doesn't match up with a finger you place on your screen is closer to 1% if you head over to the settings of your YouTube mobile app there's a dark mode which not just looks cool but saves battery whilst also being less strenuous on your eyes if you lose your original phone charger you can use the MacBook USB type-c charger the power that is delivered to your phone will adjust depending on the requirements of your device on social media if someone is really getting on your nerves take advantage of the mute feature this stops you seeing their notifications and messages but at the same time doesn't make it as obvious as just straight-up blocking them you can use send anywhere to send pretty much anything pretty much anywhere you can send photos and videos to your PC or send contacts to a new phone you're setting up and there's pretty much no file size limit you could send every single song you've ever downloaded or every single photo and video you've ever taken by adding an asterisk on either end you can send bold text on whatsapp to stress a point without screaming at the other person using caps lock use an application called tiny scanner to send yourself a scanned copy of your passport to your own email address with some sort of memorable subject header the image will look like it had been scanned in with a printer and just having your passport with you wherever you go is a very useful thing whether that's because you want to improve your age or you want to just fill out a form on the go just make sure that your email has 2-step verification on but surprisingly the fastest way to share a URL is not to try and select it by clicking on it but in fact to hit the share button after which you'll see an option to copy URL to clipboard you probably all know about mobile data hotspots which allow you to share your data connection with other devices that may not have one but using an application called net you can also share a Wi-Fi connection and there's actually a fair few reasons why you might want to do this sometimes when you're in a public place and you're paying for Wi-Fi you pay per device that you want to connect or sometimes you might go over to a friend's house and they've only logged you in on your phone but you actually wanted connection on your laptop you can instantly start a timer by searching on Google start a timer and then how long you want it for most people on Android never actually need to install a separate file manager because by default Android has one built into it if you head into storage settings you can explore your folders from there and as a bit of an extension to this you can create a settings shortcut which is an icon on your home screen that first attracts you to a certain part of the settings menus so you could use this to quickly browse your folders or something I fiddle with quite a lot Wi-Fi and Bluetooth settings keep your phone in airplane mode overnight for a few reasons it'll save power it'll prevent notifications reducing the quality of your sleep and also it keeps cell phone radiation to a minimum there's also a potential lifestyle benefit something I do is I don't turn off the airplane mode until I'm at my desk and ready to work which means that I don't spend half an hour in the morning looking through my Instagram feed if you don't already have it you can install a home button on to Chrome for Android a really quick way of flicking back to whatever your default search pages oh yeah and there is a hidden option to be able to save webpages as PDF files which means you'll be able to read them offline edit them and send them to anyone else and know that they'll keep the same formatting all you do is find a page you want to download and then click print and then saving as PDF is one of the options there all right guys thank you so much for watching and I'll catch you in the next onedid you know that you can dial back your last caller by just hitting the dial button although if you swipe on the address bar when using Chrome you can flip between your tabs welcome to the complete collection of smart phone hacks and that I use intended for Android but a lot of these can also be used on iPhone get ready to be enlightened one of the first things people seem to ask me when they come over is what is your Wi-Fi password now this can get a little bit annoying so as a solution you can go to a website called QR strathcom and enter your Wi-Fi details this will turn them into a QR code that guests can scan and automatically connect to your Wi-Fi if you're ever suffering from signal difficulties if you turn on airplane mode and then turn it off again your firm will reconnect to the closest cell tower screen pinning allows you to hand a phone to your friend and be rest assured that they're not going to go snooping around when you pin an application then the person can only use that app and they will be able to exit to home or do anything else until you unlock your phone again for the photography buffs one of the greatest hacks I've ever used comes from Adobe Lightroom this is one of the most powerful photo editing apps with a feature called noise reduction which as the name suggests takes your grainy photos and uses a sophisticated denoising algorithm and at the cost of a little bit of sharpness completely turns a grainy photo around take advantage of do not disturb mode in fact by default when I setup a new phone I always turn this feature on I'll set it so that phone calls and alarms will get through but for the rest of my non-urgent notifications I'll make it so I see them when I have time to see them not when they demand my attention fans of the Marvel Universe might like to try the Doctor Strange open your camera and put it into panorama mode and then slowly move up the person's body you need to tell them to move their arms out at once when you reach their chest and then once more when you reach their throat the effect is worth the effort adding your contact details onto your lock screen is pretty self-explanatory but also quite often overlooked it essentially means that if you ever lost your phone you can rely on the goodwill of humanity to get it back too you 90% at the time and speaking of contact details most people when they're using a phone will probably type in their email address several times a day so it really makes sense to set a keyboard shortcut when I setup a new phone one of the first things I do is make it so that typing at the word email results in my full email address appearing say you're using Google Maps to direct you somewhere but your phone's battery is seriously flagging what you can do is instead of keeping the Maps app open and using GPS and data just take a screenshot of your route they won't update in real time but if in most cases is still enough to help you find your way something I've ended up using as a lump quite a few times is the flashlight on my smartphone but the problem with it is that it's a very focused beam of light so it's not great at lighting up a room if you place a bottle or a glass filled with water on top of it though this disperses the light try to use some sort of blue light filter if you're not keen on shelling out for a specialized screen protector that filters out blue light then at least try and use the icon for mode built into most devices this will reduce the brightness of your screen as well as the amount of blue light being emitted and if you're using your phone late in the evening will help your body better get ready for sleep when you're taking a landscape photo try tapping on the brightest area before snapping the reason for this is that generally speaking smartphones are more prone to over exposing images than under exposing and when something is overexposed detail in the bright areas is lost permanently if you then tap on the brightest areas before taking the photo your phone will do its absolute best to make sure that even the brightest parts of the image are kept under control and while the rest of the image will be a bit darker as a result the details are still there and are all recoverable using a little bit of editing if you're about to post a text heavy photo or video Instagram story you can use something called a translucent overlay so instead of just showing the raw file by tapping at the highlighter picking your color and then holding down on the screen it'll add a layer of color with 70% opacity so the any text will be clearly visible anyone with a fingerprint scanner should add their fingerprint at least three times not for three different fingers but in fact three different angles of the same finger the reason is that most scanners have a failure rate of about three to five percent but if you add three versions of the same finger then the chance that at least one of them doesn't match up with a finger you place on your screen is closer to 1% if you head over to the settings of your YouTube mobile app there's a dark mode which not just looks cool but saves battery whilst also being less strenuous on your eyes if you lose your original phone charger you can use the MacBook USB type-c charger the power that is delivered to your phone will adjust depending on the requirements of your device on social media if someone is really getting on your nerves take advantage of the mute feature this stops you seeing their notifications and messages but at the same time doesn't make it as obvious as just straight-up blocking them you can use send anywhere to send pretty much anything pretty much anywhere you can send photos and videos to your PC or send contacts to a new phone you're setting up and there's pretty much no file size limit you could send every single song you've ever downloaded or every single photo and video you've ever taken by adding an asterisk on either end you can send bold text on whatsapp to stress a point without screaming at the other person using caps lock use an application called tiny scanner to send yourself a scanned copy of your passport to your own email address with some sort of memorable subject header the image will look like it had been scanned in with a printer and just having your passport with you wherever you go is a very useful thing whether that's because you want to improve your age or you want to just fill out a form on the go just make sure that your email has 2-step verification on but surprisingly the fastest way to share a URL is not to try and select it by clicking on it but in fact to hit the share button after which you'll see an option to copy URL to clipboard you probably all know about mobile data hotspots which allow you to share your data connection with other devices that may not have one but using an application called net you can also share a Wi-Fi connection and there's actually a fair few reasons why you might want to do this sometimes when you're in a public place and you're paying for Wi-Fi you pay per device that you want to connect or sometimes you might go over to a friend's house and they've only logged you in on your phone but you actually wanted connection on your laptop you can instantly start a timer by searching on Google start a timer and then how long you want it for most people on Android never actually need to install a separate file manager because by default Android has one built into it if you head into storage settings you can explore your folders from there and as a bit of an extension to this you can create a settings shortcut which is an icon on your home screen that first attracts you to a certain part of the settings menus so you could use this to quickly browse your folders or something I fiddle with quite a lot Wi-Fi and Bluetooth settings keep your phone in airplane mode overnight for a few reasons it'll save power it'll prevent notifications reducing the quality of your sleep and also it keeps cell phone radiation to a minimum there's also a potential lifestyle benefit something I do is I don't turn off the airplane mode until I'm at my desk and ready to work which means that I don't spend half an hour in the morning looking through my Instagram feed if you don't already have it you can install a home button on to Chrome for Android a really quick way of flicking back to whatever your default search pages oh yeah and there is a hidden option to be able to save webpages as PDF files which means you'll be able to read them offline edit them and send them to anyone else and know that they'll keep the same formatting all you do is find a page you want to download and then click print and then saving as PDF is one of the options there all right guys thank you so much for watching and I'll catch you in the next one\n"