If you’re new to Android, Chrome, or anything related to Google, it can sometimes be a little difficult getting yourself familiar with the platforms. That’s why we created Basics!
Whether you’re looking for help changing your wallpaper, adding apps to your home screen, removing apps from your home screen, or just want to know how to set an alarm, we’ve got you covered.
All of our Basics guides can be found below, in the order they were published.
Introduced with the Google Pixel 2, Motion Photos is an opinion in the camera application that records several frames before and after you take a photo. While it can make for a neat GIF, it takes up extra storage space and can be annoying to look at in the Photos app. Here’s how to turn Motion Photos off…
After just over a year of being in office, President Trump is set to give his first State of the Union on January 30th, at 6pm PT / 9pm ET. The address will take place live in Washington D.C. and will be streamed on YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, and C-Span…
Recently, Instagram partnered with Giphy to allow its users to place GIFs on their stories. Here’s how to add GIFs to your photos or videos to make them stand out from the crowd…
Depending on how you use your phone, you will most likely want to change the ringtone volume of your Pixel 2 while not affecting the media playback audio level. The same goes for alarm volume. Thankfully, unlike with phones from other OEMs, Google makes it extremely easy for Pixel 2 owners to change all three different volume modes. Here’s how…
For the second year in a row, James Corden is set to take the stage Sunday night at Madison Square Garden in New York City to host the 60th annual Grammy Awards. Here’s how to watch the event live on Android, Chrome OS, Chromecast, and Android TV…
With how much we all rely on our smartphones, it’s important to know exactly how much battery life we have left. Thankfully, because it’s almost impossible to correctly know how much juice is left just based on the battery bar, Android has a built-in option to show the battery percentage on the Pixel 2 and 2 XL. Here’s how to turn it on or off…
Whether you want to save battery life or just want to keep your Google Pixel 2’s screen on longer, Android lets you change the display timeout period. Here’s how to customize your phone’s display settings…
Recently, Instagram has silently begun rolling out an update that lets your follows (that you follow back) to see the last time you opened up the social media application. Thankfully, there’s an option in the app’s settings that lets you disable your activity status. Here’s how…
It’s becoming a popular trend to find ways to curb smartphone addiction, and the latest technique involves making your phone as dull- and boring-looking as possible — by enabling its grayscale mode. Enabling grayscale on a Google Pixel 2 and 2 XL is fairly straightforward, although it might not seem that way since there’s no grayscale option in the phone’s accessibility settings.
Some people like to keep the wallpapers on their phone fresh on a daily basis, and thankfully Google thought of those people when they made the Wallpapers app for Google Pixel 2 and 2 XL.
You may not realize it, but there are actually dozens of settings for your Google Pixel 2 or 2 XL that are hidden. Most of them are advanced settings that normal users wouldn’t want to touch (much less need to touch), but there are a few in there that might come in handy in some cases. Here’s how to enable Developer options on your Google Pixel 2 and Google Pixel 2 XL.
Over the weekend, social media was flooded by individuals sharing comparisons of themselves with famous pieces of art. This was all thanks to a new experiment within the Google Arts & Culture application…
Whether you’re a developer looking to test out your application on Android Auto or to run an app that hasn’t been released on the Play Store, you’ll need to enable Developer settings. Google hides the option within the Android Auto application but, thankfully, it’s effortless to activate. Here’s how…
Tonight is the 75th Golden Globe Awards, and unlike in years past, NBC will actually be streaming the award show online and through its mobile and Android TV applications. Here’s how to stream the entire Seth Meyers-hosted event tonight, January 7, at 5PM PT / 8P ET…
If you’ve survived New Year’s Eve and have also woken up in time to watch it, this morning is the 129th Rose Parade. Thankfully, in case you aren’t able to watch the parade on your television or if you don’t have a TV provider, there are several ways to stream the event and watch it on any number of your different devices. The parade starts at 8 AM PT so don’t forget to tune in…
This is it, everybody. Today is the last day of 2017! For many who stay home when the clock hits midnight, it’s a tradition to watch the ball drop in Times Square in New York City on television. In case you aren’t in front of your TV or don’t have a cable/satellite subscription, here are a couple of ways to stream the festivities on your Android handset, Chrome browser, or Android TV…
HQ Trivia, the live trivia game show that has become incredibly popular on iOS, is aiming to launch on Android around January 1 of next year. But if you can’t wait that long, you’re in luck because the company has opened a small private beta for Android users, and the APK file has leaked. Now, if you want to play on your device, it’s as simple as sideloading the application…
For some time now, Twitter has allowed users to set up and use two-step verification to help protect their accounts. But until now, Twitter has sent authentication codes through SMS or required users to use a login code generator within a mobile app already signed into the account. Just announced this morning, Twitter users can now use third-party apps like Google Authenticator, Authy, and 1Password to generate the authorization code. Here’s how to set it all up…
With the Google Home Max being delivered to customers now, we figured it would be a good time to walk you through how to set up and get started with your new smart speaker. Thankfully, most of the set up process takes place within the Home app, which means the entire process just takes a few minutes.
Shortly after the Pixel 2 was released, Google announced that its two new smartphones had a dedicated chip built-in that would be used to handle specialized processes like the camera app’s HDR+ image processing. Weirdly, though, Google didn’t turn on this Pixel Visual Core when it shipped its flagship devices. Now, with Android 8.1 Developer Preview 2, the Pixel Visual Core can be enabled. Here’s how…
With the release of the 5T, OnePlus decided to change the phone’s design up a bit and introduced an 18:9 aspect ratio display. With this change, the company moved the fingerprint sensor to the back of the handset. Additionally, OnePlus introduced its own Face unlock technology to help users get into their phones as quickly as possible. Here’s how to set up the fingerprint sensor and Face unlock on your OnePlus 5T…
Depending on your personal opinion, you may think the fact that Google stores all audio recordings from Home as either awesome or extremely weird. Either way, you might one day want to delete all of those recordings. Thankfully, Google makes it extremely easy to do so right from the “My Activity” interface…
Alongside its two flagship smartphones, Google released the Pixel Buds. These Bluetooth headphones, which compete with Apple’s AirPods, are meant to pair with any of the Pixel smartphones or the PixelBook so that they can work with the Assistant. But as they are first and foremost Bluetooth headphones, there is a way to use them with other devices. Here’s how…
