Enable or Disable Call Barring
Roaming abroad often means every incoming call and every accidental international dial gets billed at premium rates, even calls you never answer. Huawei phones let you block specific call types at the network level instead of just muting notifications. The setting sits deep in the Phone app and is easy to miss if you have never needed it before.
Enable or Disable Service Messages
Random texts from your carrier about data usage, promotions, or account balance can clutter your inbox on a Huawei phone. These service messages come through the regular Messages app and are controlled by a setting most people never touch. If you keep getting them after asking your provider to stop, the toggle inside the Messages app is usually still switched on.
Answer Calls with the Fingerprint Sensor
Struggling to answer calls when the touchscreen is hard to use, your fingers are wet, or you are wearing gloves? Huawei phones can accept a call with a long press on the fingerprint sensor, but this option is usually switched off by default. Without it, every incoming call still needs the on-screen slide gesture, even if that is exactly what is causing you trouble.
Turn Auto-Download for MMS On or Off
MMS attachments on your Huawei phone download automatically the moment a message arrives, even over mobile data. If you are watching your data allowance or want to decide yourself when large files get pulled in, this automatic behavior can quietly use up bandwidth. The setting controlling this sits inside the Messages app and is easy to miss.
Contact Name Order: First Name or Last Name First
If your contact list sorts by last name when you expect first name first, calls and messages get harder to scan at a glance. Huawei phones control this through one shared display setting, not something you fix contact by contact.
Set Default SMS Messages App
If a new messaging app you installed from the Google Play Store never actually receives your texts, the old app is probably still set as default. Huawei phones send every SMS and MMS through whichever app is marked as the standard, no matter how many others sit on your home screen. Switching that setting is the only way to make a new app take over completely.
Show Alternate Calendars in the Calendar App
If your Calendar app only shows Gregorian dates, religious or cultural holidays like Islamic, Hebrew, or Chinese Lunar dates stay invisible next to your regular entries. EMUI hides this option inside the Calendar settings by default, so most users never notice it exists. Adding an alternate calendar shows a second date line under each day without replacing your main calendar.
Forward an SMS Message
If you want to pass on a text you received without retyping it, EMUI hides the forward option inside the message menu rather than as a visible button. This is why many Huawei users only send screenshots instead of the actual message.
Assign a Picture to a Contact
If a contact still shows a generic icon instead of a photo when they call or text you, no picture has been linked to that entry yet. Huawei lets you attach either an existing photo from your gallery or a freshly taken picture to any saved contact. Without this link, calls and messages stay visually anonymous even after all other details have been saved.
Enable or Disable VoLTE Calls
If your calls sound muffled or take a few extra seconds to connect, your phone is likely still routing them over the 2G or 3G network instead of 4G. Huawei phones fall back to the older network for voice unless VoLTE (Voice over LTE) is switched on, which also affects battery drain during calls.
Factory Reset Phone
If your Huawei phone has slowed down, keeps freezing, or you are about to sell or hand it over, wiping it back to factory settings usually fixes the root cause in one step. A factory reset removes your Google account, all system and app settings, installed apps, and every file stored in internal memory. Back up anything you need before starting, since none of this data can be recovered afterward.
Voice Broadcast for Incoming Calls
If your Huawei phone is connected to a headset and voice broadcast is turned on, an incoming call plays the default ringtone instead of the custom tone you set for that contact. This happens because voice broadcast overrides individual ringtone assignments with a spoken caller announcement. The setting sits in the calling options and is easy to miss when you are troubleshooting missing custom ringtones.
Mark All Messages as Read
Scrolling through dozens of unread chats in the Messages app on a Huawei phone takes forever if you have to open every single conversation. The unread badge on the app icon can also stay stuck even after you already caught up on the messages elsewhere. A single menu option clears every unread flag in one tap, without touching the content of your chats.
View Call History for One Contact
Your Huawei call history mixes every call together, so tracking how often you have talked to one specific contact means scrolling through the entire list. Instead of filtering manually, the Phone app can pull up a focused call log for that contact. This same screen is also where you clear that person's call records without touching the rest of your history.
Choose Which Contacts Account to Display
If your contact list on a Huawei phone mixes SIM entries, Google contacts and messenger numbers into one messy view, the display setting is set to show every account at once. This makes it hard to find people saved only on your SIM or only in Google, especially after switching phones or adding a new account. You can limit the list to a single source instead of scrolling through duplicates.
Block a Phone Number from Call History
If the same unknown caller keeps turning up in your call log, that's rarely a coincidence. Many of these numbers belong to fake contests, surveys or robocall campaigns that dial repeatedly. Huawei lets you stop this directly from the call log entry, no separate blocklist app needed.
Add Calendar Account
If your Huawei calendar only shows events from one source, you're likely missing a second sync account like a work inbox or a personal Google calendar. The Calendar app supports several account types side by side, but each one has to be added manually, and picking the wrong type (Exchange, Google, or Corporate) can lead to sync errors or missing invites.
Filter Call List by Missed Calls
When your call log on a Huawei phone fills up with dozens of entries, spotting the calls you actually missed gets tedious. The Phone app can switch between showing every call or only the missed ones, but that toggle is easy to overlook if you have never used it before.
Pair Messages for Web with a PC
When a text comes in while you are working on your laptop, reaching for the Huawei phone every time gets old fast. Messages for web only works once the phone and the browser tab have been linked through a QR code scan, and that pairing session can drop if the phone loses network or the browser tab closes. If the scanner window on the computer stays blank or the code never gets recognized, the two devices are usually not on the same Wi-Fi network or the phone camera has not been given permission.
Remove an Assigned Number from Speed Dial
When every speed dial slot on your Huawei phone is already taken, adding a new contact means one of the existing entries has to go first. Many users only find the option to change or delete a slot after the assigned number, not the contact itself, gets edited.
Enable or Disable Call Waiting
If a second call comes in while you are already on a call, your Huawei phone plays a short knocking tone and shows a notification on screen. This alert comes from the Call waiting setting in the Phone app, and turning it off silences the notification for incoming calls during an active conversation. On dual SIM devices, this setting can behave differently depending on which SIM line receives the call.
Export Contacts
Huawei's Contacts app keeps the export function simple, almost too simple: there's no way to export a single contact, only the entire list at once. If you just need to back up one number, EMUI still bundles all your contacts into one VCF file before you can share or store it. That behavior often confuses people looking to transfer just a few entries.
Hide or Show Caller-ID
If your phone number keeps showing up on the other person's display even though you would rather stay anonymous, EMUI is still following your carrier's default caller-ID setting. The same issue works in reverse: if calls go out as 'unknown' when you actually want your number visible, that same setting is the cause. On dual SIM devices, each SIM slot keeps its own separate configuration.
Delete Call History
If missed calls or dialed numbers keep piling up in your Huawei call log, you can clear single entries or wipe the entire list at once. Deleting the history removes calls, messages logs, and missed call records permanently, with no way to restore them afterward. This makes it worth checking which entries you actually want to keep before confirming.