Too often I see Android devices unchanged since they were taken out of the box. Here are some quick and easy tips for cleaning the mess from the default screens and setting up a useful work area.

By default a lot of Android devices comes pre-installed and configured with Apps and Widgets on about 5 screens worth of space. Many of these you will not use, and an awful lot are irrelevant for work use.

These steps are good for home users as well as business users.

These tips are targeted at Android 4 onwards and have been worked through on Samsung devices.

Adding and removing Home Screens

In Android "Home Screen" is the name given to each page of Apps/Widgets you can swipe through. Note that some manufacturers do not allow you to change the number of screens - so you may be restricted to 5 (no more no less). On Samsung you can reduce the number of screens, but can have no more than 7.

From the home screen squeeze your finger and thumb together from opposing corners.

When you have done this the screen will then show thumbnails of each Home Screen defined on the device.

If you want to delete a Home Screen tap and hold the one you want to remove and drag it to the trash can at the top (2) of the screen. You can drag a Home Screen even if it has lots of Apps shown on it - this is a really quick way of clearing the decks!

In the top right of each Home Screen thumbnail is a house icon. Tap this to change which Home Screen is your default one.

Removing specific Apps

After you have set the number of Home Screens you need (perhaps one for Assessment and Inspection work, another for Email and Documents, and another for Social media - not that this is work related!) you may need to remove some Apps.

Tap and hold the icon of the App you want to remove point (1) below.

From this point you can drag the App icon to the trash can at point (3) above, or add the App (or document if this is a shortcut you are moving) to the 'Create Folder' option at point (2) above. The latter will create a folder on the Home Screen holding all the items you drag into it.

You can also drag the App icon to the left and right to deposit it onto other Home Screens.

Adding a new App to the Home Screen

To add an App to a Home Screen, simply tap and hold on a space on the Home Screen where there is a blank (i.e. no Apps). A dialog will pop-up with the option to Add App or Widget. Tap on this - point (1) below - and you will be presented with a choice of Apps to select. Tap and hold the one you want and you can then drag it onto the Home Screen.

Summary

By following the steps above you can easily make your Android device more user friendly and setup for your own use. The tidier it is, and the faster you can find all the tools you need, the more likely you are to enjoy using it.

Happy Assessing and Inspecting!