UPDATED 07:49 EDT / OCTOBER 27 2015

NEWS

8 Android Marshmallow tips and tricks you can show off to your friends

Android 6.0 Marshmallow, the latest iteration of Google’s popular mobile operating system, has some cool new features. But it’s the hidden tips and tricks that often let us really get the hang of a new thing and make it our own.

This roundup of eight Android Marshmallow tips and tricks will let you enjoy your Android update that much more but don’t keep them to yourself – share the love and impress your friends.

Exclude important apps from Doze mode

Doze is Android Marshmallow’s new battery-saving feature and extends your smartphone’s battery life by ‘dozing’ you device when the system senses it has been idle or physically stationary for an extended time.

In a ‘dozed’ state, you won’t receive any notifications unless an app, like Gmail or Hangouts, is specifically configured by an app developer to ignore Doze mode.

However, if you have key apps you want to keep seeing notifications for, even when your phone is idle, you can manually exclude them.

Go to Settings > Battery > tap the three dot menu (top right) > tap Battery Optimization > tap Not Optimized > tap All Apps > select individual apps you want to exclude from Doze mode.

Get instant, contextual info using Google Now on Tap

Google Now on Tap is contextually aware, meaning it can give you information based on whatever you are looking at on your smartphone screen at any given point, from just about any app you have installed – all without leaving the screen you are on.

For example, a friend texts you the name of a restaurant, suggesting you go there for dinner. Without leaving your messenger app, press and hold the Home button to launch Google Now on Tap and you’ll get map links, driving directions, online menus, contact information, or you can launch Yelp to check out reviews, etc.

Similarly, a reference to a movie will see Google Now on Tap deliver info from the IMDB app (if you have it installed), YouTube, Wikipedia, or other sources of info.

Use Google Translate inside other apps

If you have Google Translate installed, you can translate text from any app by selecting the text and tapping Translate in the popup menu. There’s no need to copy the text and paste it into Google Translate separately anymore.

Find memory-hungry apps that slow down your phone

If your Android Marshmallow device is running slow, the culprit may be one or more apps hogging memory. To pinpoint memory-hungry apps, go to Settings > Memory to see how much RAM has been used over the last three hours, six hours, 12 hours, or 24 hours on average.

Alternatively, tap Memory Used By Apps to see how much RAM individual apps have used. Now you can delete, reinstall, or update memory-hungry apps to try resolving the issue.

Share stuff using direct share

The traditional share menu allows you to share content via other apps like Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, etc. With Marshmallow, you can now share content directly with people without going through another app.

For example, if you want to share an image with someone, tap Share and share the image via a Hangout conversation.

Third-party app support for this feature is limited at the moment, but developers should soon start adding this into future app updates.

Set up the Quick Settings menu just the way you like it

With Marshmallow, Google lets you customize Android’s Quick Settings menu, but it’s a little tricky as you have to unlock the System UI Tuner.

Launch the Quick Settings menu (swipe down with two fingers), then tap and hold the Settings icon in the top right corner for a few seconds before releasing it. You’ll see a popup telling you that the System UI Tuner has now been added to your Settings.

Now, go to Settings > tap System UI Tuner > tap Quick Settings > tap and hold any of the tiles to reorganize them or remove them from the menu completely or tap Add Tiles to add back tiles.

No more guessing: See the exact percentage of battery left

By default, Android shows you only a battery icon for the battery charge and you can gauge how much battery you have left depending on how far the indicator has dropped. If you’d like to be a little more precise, you can force the system to display the exact percentage of battery charge left.

This setting lives in the System UI Tuner, so if you have not unlocked the System UI Tuner as per the previous tip, do this now.

Go to Settings > System UI Tuner > tap Show Embedded Battery Percentage and now you’ll see a percentage readout along with the battery icon.

It’s back! Quickly mute your phone with the volume button

For some bizarre reason, Google dropped this simple and useful feature with the release of Android Lollipop, but it’s back in Marshmallow – thankfully.

If you forgot to put your phone on silent or vibrate, quickly silence an incoming call by turning the volume all the way down. This doesn’t work for alarms, though, so make sure you’ve cancelled those before your next meeting or lie in.

Image credit: mammela via Pixabay

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