Category: Mobile & Tech Fixes

Android has at least five different ways to take a screenshot, depending on your phone brand and model. Here’s every method that works right now, from the universal button combo to Samsung-specific tricks.

Method 1: Power + Volume Down (Works on All Android Phones)

Press and hold Power and Volume Down at the same time for about one second. The screen flashes and a preview appears at the bottom. This works on every Android phone made in the last decade — Pixel, Samsung, OnePlus, Motorola, all of them.

If your phone has a physical home button instead, use Power + Home.

Method 2: Google Assistant Voice Command

Say “Hey Google, take a screenshot.” The assistant captures whatever’s on screen. Useful when your hands are full or you can’t reach both buttons easily. Works on any phone with Google Assistant enabled.

Method 3: Gesture Swipe (Pixel and Samsung)

On Google Pixel: swipe up from the bottom of the screen to open the recent apps view, then tap Screenshot at the bottom.

On Samsung Galaxy: swipe the edge of your palm across the screen from right to left. This needs to be turned on first — go to Settings > Advanced Features > Motions and Gestures > Palm Swipe to Capture.

Method 4: S Pen Screenshot (Samsung Note/Ultra)

Pull out the S Pen. In the Air Command menu, tap Screen Write. It captures the screen and drops you into an editor where you can annotate before saving. You can also select a specific area with Smart Select instead of capturing the full screen.

Method 5: Scrolling Screenshot (Long Pages)

Take a regular screenshot using any method above. When the preview appears at the bottom, tap the scroll capture button (usually a downward arrow icon). Keep tapping it to extend the capture further down the page. This grabs entire web pages, long chat threads, or settings menus that don’t fit on one screen.

Available on Android 12+ natively. Samsung phones have had this since One UI 2.

Where Screenshots Get Saved

Screenshots save to your Screenshots folder in the Gallery or Google Photos app. The file path is usually DCIM/Screenshots/ or Pictures/Screenshots/ depending on your phone brand. You can share directly from the screenshot preview that appears after capture — no need to go dig through your gallery.

Bonus: Screen Recording

Need video instead of a still image? Pull down the quick settings panel and tap Screen Recorder. Choose whether to record audio (media, microphone, or both), then tap Start. A 3-second countdown gives you time to navigate to what you want to record. Tap the notification bar to stop.

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More Android tips: See the full Android Tips & Tricks hub for widget shortcuts, screenshot methods, the DND fix, Advanced Protection, and Scrcpy in one place.

Pixel One-Tap DND Broken? Here’s the 2-Minute Fix (2026)

Google changed how Do Not Disturb works on Pixel phones. What used to be a single tap in quick settings now takes multiple taps through a menu. If that’s been driving you nuts, here are two ways to get one-tap DND back.

What Google Changed

A recent Pixel update replaced the DND quick toggle with a shortcut that opens a settings panel instead of just toggling DND on and off. Google probably did this so people would configure DND schedules and exceptions instead of using it as a blunt mute button. The result: something that took one tap now takes three or four.

Fix 1: Install Simple DND

Simple DND is a free app on the Play Store that adds a real one-tap DND toggle back to your quick settings panel.

1. Download Simple DND from the Google Play Store.
2. Pull down your quick settings panel and tap the pencil icon to edit tiles.
3. Find the Simple DND tile and drag it into your active tiles.
4. Tap it once to toggle DND on or off — done.

Fix 2: Add DND to Your Lock Screen

If you want DND accessible without even unlocking your phone:

1. Go to Settings > Display > Lock screen.
2. Tap Shortcuts.
3. Replace one of the existing lock screen shortcuts with Do Not Disturb.

Now you can toggle DND straight from the lock screen with one tap.

Tell Google You Want It Back

If enough people complain, Google sometimes reverts these changes. Go to Settings > Tips & support > Send feedback and tell them you want the original one-tap DND toggle restored. Short, specific feedback works better than rants — just say what changed and why the old way was better.

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Read our latest article on   Android 16 Advanced Protection: What It Does and Who Needs It

More Android tips: See the full Android Tips & Tricks hub for widget shortcuts, screenshot methods, the DND fix, Advanced Protection, and Scrcpy in one place.

Android 16 ships with an Advanced Protection Program that locks your phone down harder than most people need. It’s built for journalists, activists, and anyone whose phone holds information that could get them or someone else in trouble. Here’s what it does, what it breaks, and whether you should turn it on.

What Advanced Protection Actually Does

The program bundles several security features into one toggle. Once enabled, your phone enforces all of them at once:

• Auto-reboot after 72 hours idle. If your phone sits untouched for three days, it reboots into a locked state where data is encrypted at rest. Useful if your device gets confiscated or stolen.
• No unsecured Wi-Fi connections. The phone won’t connect to open networks without encryption. Blocks the most common man-in-the-middle attack vector.
• App installs restricted to Google Play Store only. No sideloading APKs, no third-party app stores. Cuts off the main malware entry point on Android.
• Enhanced Google Play Protect scanning. More aggressive malware detection runs on installed apps.
• Scam call and message detection. Built-in fraud filtering flags suspicious calls and texts.

How to Turn It On

Go to Settings > Security & Privacy > Advanced Protection and follow the setup prompts. You’ll need a Google account with 2FA enabled. The whole process takes about two minutes.

You can disable it later through the same menu if the restrictions don’t work for your daily use.

Who Should Actually Use This

If you handle confidential sources, work in a politically sensitive environment, or travel to places where your phone might be searched at a border crossing, this is worth enabling.

If you sideload apps, use custom ROMs, or rely on APKs from outside the Play Store, Advanced Protection will break your workflow. The app restriction alone is a dealbreaker for power users who need apps Google doesn’t carry.

For most people, standard Android security — a strong lock screen, 2FA on your Google account, keeping Play Protect on — covers the real-world threats you’ll face. Advanced Protection is the next tier up, and it trades convenience for hardening that only matters if you’re a specific kind of target.

Read about One-Tap Do Not Distrub on Google Pixel.

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More Android tips: See the full Android Tips & Tricks hub for widget shortcuts, screenshot methods, the DND fix, Advanced Protection, and Scrcpy in one place.

Scrcpy lets you mirror and control your Android phone from a Windows, Mac, or Linux computer over USB or Wi-Fi. It’s free, open-source, and doesn’t require root. Here’s how to set it up and what you can do with it.

What You Need

• An Android phone running Android 5.0 or later
• A USB cable (USB-C to USB-A or USB-C to USB-C)
• A computer running Windows, macOS, or Linux

Step 1: Enable USB Debugging

On your phone, go to Settings > About Phone and tap Build Number seven times. You’ll see a toast message saying “You are now a developer.”

Go back to Settings > System > Developer Options and toggle on USB Debugging.

Step 2: Install Scrcpy

Windows: Install via Scoop (scoop install scrcpy) or download the zip from the official GitHub releases page. Extract and run from the folder.

macOS: Install via Homebrew: brew install scrcpy

Linux: Most distros have it in the package manager. On Ubuntu/Debian: sudo apt install scrcpy

Step 3: Connect and Run

Plug your phone into the computer via USB. If prompted on the phone, tap Allow on the USB debugging authorization popup. Check “Always allow from this computer” if it’s your machine.

Open a terminal or command prompt and type:

scrcpy

Your phone screen appears in a window on your computer. Mouse clicks map to taps, keyboard input maps to the phone’s keyboard, and you can drag to scroll.

Useful Flags

Scrcpy has command-line options that change how it runs:

• scrcpy --max-size 1920 — cap the mirror resolution (reduces lag on slower machines)
• scrcpy --turn-screen-off — mirrors the phone but keeps its screen off (saves battery)
• scrcpy --no-audio — skip audio forwarding if you don’t need it
• scrcpy --otg — use mouse and keyboard on the phone without mirroring the screen
• scrcpy --new-display=1920x1080 — create a virtual display at a custom resolution

Wireless Connection (No Cable)

Connect via USB first, then run:

adb tcpip 5555
adb connect YOUR_PHONE_IP:5555

Unplug the cable, then run scrcpy as normal. Latency is higher over Wi-Fi, but it works fine for app testing, message replies, and file management.

Security Note

Only download scrcpy from the official GitHub repo. Third-party download sites sometimes bundle malware with it. Turn off USB Debugging when you’re done — leaving it on gives any computer you plug into potential access to your phone’s data.

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More Android tips: See the full Android Tips & Tricks hub for widget shortcuts, screenshot methods, the DND fix, Advanced Protection, and Scrcpy in one place.

iOS 26 added real anti-scam filtering to the Messages app. If you’ve been getting hammered with fake package alerts and phishing links — and statistically, most of us have — here’s what actually changed and how to set it up.

What iOS 26 Changed in Messages

Apple added automatic message categorization. Your texts now get sorted into groups: known contacts, unknown senders, and spam. The sorting happens on-device, so Apple isn’t reading your messages on a server somewhere.

The spam category does three things that matter:

• Disables all links and phone numbers in flagged messages. You literally can’t tap a phishing link by accident.
• Blocks replies to spam messages. Scammers use replies to confirm your number is active — this shuts that down.
• Silences notifications from unknown senders. No more buzzing at dinner because some bot wants your Social Security number.

How to Turn On Scam Text Filtering

Open Settings > Messages > Unknown & Spam and toggle on Filter Unknown Senders. That’s it. Messages from people not in your contacts will get sorted into the Unknown Senders tab automatically.

For the spam detection layer, make sure you’re running iOS 26 or later. Go to Settings > General > Software Update to check. The spam categorization activates automatically once you’re on the right version.

When Legit Messages Get Flagged

It happens. Delivery notifications from new services, two-factor codes from apps you just signed up for, texts from a new doctor’s office. Any unknown number can land in the filtered pile.

To rescue a message: open the Unknown Senders or Spam tab, find the message, and tap Move to Inbox. The sender gets whitelisted going forward. Check that filtered folder every few days until you’re confident the system has learned your patterns.

What This Doesn’t Fix

On-device filtering isn’t perfect. Scammers who spoof known contacts will still get through. iMessage phishing (where someone sends from an Apple ID, not a phone number) also slips past the unknown-sender filter. Stay skeptical of any message asking you to click a link or share personal info, even from contacts.

For extra protection, report spam messages: long-press the message, tap More, then Report Junk. Apple uses these reports to improve filtering for everyone.

Read our artile on How to Control Your Android Phone from a Computer with Scrcpy

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