The Android developer option allows customization and control of some smartphone features, such as security and performance.
Under normal conditions you can't change all smartphone settings, as operations are limited to some default features. However, you can enable Android developer mode, to change some configurations and customize some processes, such as USB connections with pc, transition animations and CPU resource usage. Here are 5 things you can do by enabling developer options, to be used on any device that has the Android operating system.
What are Android developer options?
There is a special feature within the smartphone that allows you more freedom in changing the phone's settings. This mode is called Android Developer Options, and it can be activated by anyone by following a simple procedure. After the switch you can perform various operations, increasing control over the device, performance and some configurations of internal and external services. To do this you don't need root permissions, in fact you just need to replace the main setup of the smartphone, to access functions usually reserved for professionals.
How to enable Android developer mode
To enable Android developer options you first need to find out the build number, an identification code of your device. To do so, just go to the smartphone's settings, select the About phone item and read the code under Build number. In some terminals the path is slightly different, for example for Google Pixel it's Settings> System> About phone> Build number, while on Samsung Galaxy Settings> About phone> About software> Build number.
Once you've found it you have to tap 7 times on the build code, after which you'll go directly to Android developer mode. From now on you'll be able to take advantage of the additional options, in fact the change will remain active until you manually deactivate it. To do this you need to move the switch, otherwise in older smartphones you need to restore the factory settings, making a backup before doing so to avoid losing data and resources during the process.
Android Developer Options: Here are the 5 main features
After setting the Android Developer Mode you can access special features, not available in normal mode. For example, you can work on device security, unlock the bootloader, perform advanced debugging, configure USB connections, or monitor CPU usage and make changes to optimize performance. Let's take a look at 5 hidden functions that few people know about.
Create a desktop backup password
The first feature available with Android Developer Options is security, in fact with this mode you can set a password that allows you to protect your data, when for example the device is connected to a PC via USB. In this case you just need to enter the phone's settings, select the Developer Options item, tap on Desktop Backup Password and enter the desired code, confirming the operation.
Enable USB debugging
Another very interesting possibility is the creation of the USB debugging, a necessary procedure to support features such as desktop backup password entry. In a nutshell, without this operation it is not possible to start the connection between the smartphone and the PC, since the communication via USB is not enabled. Activation is really simple, you just need to go into the Android developer options, always going through the settings, tap the USB Debug entry and select Ok.
Monitor app consumption
Also useful is the function to check the consumption of apps installed on the device, with which you can view the amount of resources used by apps, such as memory or data traffic. For example on the Galaxy you can go into the Samsung developer options, select Running Services and Show cached processes. At this point you can see the overall usage of apps, or that of a single app, to see how much RAM is used by each program.
Changing the speed of Android animations
In developer mode you can change the speed of Android animations, a process that allows you to speed them up or slow them down according to your preferences. To access it just tap on the Animation Scale option, choose between windows, transitions and duration, set the desired values and confirm. The animations are shown in the transition from one window to another, so configuring a lower number will speed up their appearance.
Improving the graphics of 3D games
The fifth secret configuration, which can be used via Android's developer options, allows you to modify the graphics of 3D games by setting the MSAA. This is Multi-Sampling Anti-Aliasing, a filter that automatically manages image pixels to optimize graphic reproduction, achieving an ideal ratio between quality and performance. Generally speaking, the higher the pixel sampling (2x, 4x, 8x) the better the quality. To change the Anti-Aliasing filter, select the Forza MSAA 4x option to improve the graphics of some high-resolution games accordingly.