Developer options as the word suggest is a set of info used by developers to make changes to your device.
Now if you have turned on this option you have to be sure about which option are you tampering with! so here is the details what each option do:
.How to enable Android Developer Options?
All the tweaks are under one menu — Developer Options under settings. This menu is hidden by default.
To make this menu visible —
- Go to phone settings
- Once you are inside settings, go to “About Phone”
- Find “Build Number” and tap on it SEVEN times
- You may need to enter your device password/pin and after that -
You are now a developer - You will find a new menu — “Developer options” above “About Phone” on some devices, or inside “System” menu on some devices
- Start exploring these new exciting developer options.
Let’s explore the Developer Options
General Options
View Memory
- You can find average memory usage here.
- View memory stats per application
- View total and free memory
Get Logs
You can enable logs for system-related functionalities like -
‣ Screenshots
‣ QMI Log
‣ Network Tcpdump Log
‣ Systrace switch
‣ Face unlock
‣ Wireless Connection Log
‣ Display Log
‣ Charger Log
You can even set a log level and print format. This functionality is widely used by bug-hunters, network sniffers. Increasing log level to verbosity can affect Android’s performance.
Stay Awake
You can use this feature if you do not want your Android to sleep while charging. This feature is used by Andriod developers who use USB debugging and use their device repetitively to test the in-dev application. Use this cautiously as it will keep your phone unlocked until you lock it manually.
OEM unlocking
This feature unlocks your device’s bootloader. This allows us to root your device, install custom ROM, hereby voiding device warranty.
Unlocking bootloader opens door to many security risks as now there is no barrier to block harmful requests.
Running Services
This option shows running processes and services all under one roof.
It also shows memory used and running time. If you find a service taking too much of memory or is running since long, you can terminate that service
Advanced Reboot
By default, power button provides very basic options like -
- Power off
- Restart
- Lockdown — Locks device and activates only password/pin security
- Screenshot — Available on few devices
Advanced Reboot add up new recovery options -
- Recovery — To reset system settings or to wipe data and cache
- Bootloader — Reboots to fast-boot to perform operations like to root, install ROM, etc
Debugging Options
USB Debugging
This feature enables developers to remotely install and run/debug applications from computers onto Android devices. Users must take caution while using this option, especially if the device is rooted, as one can install any application remotely.
Once USB debugging is enabled, developers can use Android Debug Bridge (ADB) tools to communicate with devices from computers
Select mock location app
There are many applications available like Fake GPS that can spoof your GPS location.
This option permits those application to spoof the location
You need to choose spoof application from the list to mock location
System Tracing
It enables recording system activity and analyzing it later to improve performance.
You can record activity for the following categories -
- ADB
- Activity Manager
- Binder Kernel driver
- Dalvik VM
- Disk I/O
- CPU Frequency
- Network
- CPU Scheduling
- Synchronization and many more…
Networking Options
Mobile data always active
This option keeps mobile data active even if Wi-Fi is active. It comes into play when you are having an important meeting and then there is a sudden power cut off. You lose Wi-Fi connectivity, but activated mobile data reconnects you instantly and becomes your saviour.
Default USB Configuration
This option can safeguard your data by disallowing access to storage on the USB connection attempt. You can choose from -
- File Transfer
Your device will expose storage by default to computer - USB Tethering
Your device will act a “modem” for computer and will start sharing internet (Wi-Fi/mobile data) - MIDI — Musical Instrument Digital Interface
Connect your MIDI keyboard to your device or use your device as a controller for FL Studio - PTP — Picture Transfer Protocol
Connect your device to the computer as an Imaging device to enable support of importing pictures. This will enable to browse only images/videos saved on the device - No data transfer
This option enables only charging mode for the device.
Bluetooth
AVRCP Version — Audio/Video Remote Control Profile
This is a Bluetooth profile that allows playback on remote devices. You can select a version of AVRCP here.
Audio Codec
It is an algorithm that codes and decodes an audio stream. It affects the quality and transmission bandwidth of the stream.
Audio Sample Rate
Sample Rate is the number of samples of audio carried per second, measured in Hz or kHz. It is a process of selecting audio samples from a continuous wave. Higher the rate, the higher is quality (44.1 kHz is preferred).
Audio Bits per Sample
It is a collection of audio bits/audio data in one sample. Again, more the data, more quality. But it would require more bandwidth to produce quality audio
Audio Channel Mode
We can set Stereo (left and right) mode or Mono (combine channels) mode
Maximum Connected Bluetooth audio devices
This setting determines how many Bluetooth audio devices you can keep connected. It is useful if you have a smart home with smart responsive audio devices that practice IoT.
Input
Show Taps
This will show white pointer on display tracking your taps or scrolls
Pointer Location
Pointer location will leave a trail of your taps or scrolls
Drawing
Show Layout Bounds
It marks the borders, clip bound, margins. It is used during app development to validate the positioning and alignment of visual items on screens
Force RTL Layout Direction
This setting will position visual items in Right to Left layout which is the default for some locales.
Animation Scale
- Windows scale — It controls the rate of pop-ups animations
- Transition scale — It controls the rate of app window animations
- Animator scale — It controls the rate of all basic animations, app switching animations, notification bar animation.
Apps
Don’t Keep Activities
Destroy every activity as soon as the user leaves it. It affects minimizing the app too. Developers use this to avoid caching of activity parameters while testing.
Background Process Limit
It sets limits to the background process.
You can use this option if you feel your device has started lagging a little bit or if your device becomes less responsive
Force Activities to be Resizable
Make all activities resizable. This can even make the app to work with split-screen
How to disable developer options?
- Many devices provide kill switch at the top to disables developer options
- If your device does not have a switch, you can disable developer options by clearing storage for the “Settings” application.
NOTE: You will lose some preferences/settings after this reset.