Delete Saved Wi-Fi Networks
If your Huawei phone keeps jumping onto an old guest network instead of your home Wi-Fi, a leftover saved connection is usually to blame. EMUI remembers every network you ever joined, including outdated passwords and networks you no longer use. Removing the wrong ones fixes auto-connect issues and frees up the list for a fresh setup.
Raise to Wake: Enable or Disable Screen Wake by Lifting
If your Huawei screen stays dark when you pick the phone up, or it keeps waking on its own during normal handling, the raise to wake behavior is likely set the wrong way. This function reads the motion sensor and turns the display on the moment the device is lifted or tilted. Even when raise to wake is active, a lock screen still needs a PIN or password before you get past it.
Set Up Parental Controls with Digital Balance
If your kid is glued to their Huawei phone and homework keeps getting pushed back, screen time is probably the real issue. Huawei bundles parental control inside the Digital Balance feature, which most parents never open because it looks like a personal wellbeing tool. Without setting limits here, apps stay unrestricted and screen time goes untracked.
Set Default Browser App
If tapping a link in a message or email keeps opening Huawei Browser instead of Chrome, Firefox or Opera, the system default app was never switched. EMUI decides which browser handles outside links independently of which apps you have installed. Downloading a new browser from the Play Store alone does not change this setting.
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.
Enable or Disable Smart Cover Display Window
When you close a smart cover with a cutout window on your Huawei phone, the screen behind the window stays blank instead of showing the time or date. This happens because the Smart cover feature is switched off or the display window option inside it was never turned on. A related step counter toggle controls whether your daily steps show up in that same window.
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.
Flip to Mute Timers and Alarms
If an alarm or timer keeps ringing even after you grab the phone, flipping it face-down usually should silence it instantly. On many Huawei phones this motion gesture is turned off by default, so the ringing continues no matter how you place the device.
Set Up a VPN Connection
Public Wi-Fi hotspots and open mobile networks let anyone nearby read your unencrypted traffic. On a Huawei phone the built-in VPN client stays empty until a server profile is added, so the connection option does nothing on its own. Once a valid server address, protocol and login details are entered, the phone tunnels your data, hides your IP and reaches sites that would otherwise be blocked.
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.
Set Up Private DNS
On public or shared Wi-Fi, every domain your phone looks up travels as plain text, letting the network operator or anyone else on the connection see which sites you visit. Huawei phones ship with private DNS switched off by default, so this exposure continues until you activate an encrypted resolver. Turning it on requires the exact hostname of a DNS provider, not just an IP address.
Manually Select a Mobile Network
Near a border or in a rural area, your Huawei phone might latch onto a foreign network that offers a stronger signal instead of your home carrier. This happens because automatic network search always prioritizes reception over your default provider. Roaming charges or dropped data sessions are the usual result until you pick the carrier yourself.
Turn Wi-Fi On or Off
If your phone keeps burning through mobile data at home or at work, Wi-Fi might be switched off without you noticing. On the other hand, a Wi-Fi radio left running all day in areas with no network drains battery for nothing. Knowing exactly where this switch sits on your Huawei saves both your data plan and your battery.
Resize the On-Screen Keyboard
If the SwiftKey keyboard on your Huawei phone feels too large for one-handed typing or too cramped to hit the right keys, the default layout is likely still active. Height, width and position of the keyboard can all be adjusted independently of each other. This becomes noticeable especially on larger displays or when you switch between portrait and landscape typing.
Show Step Count on Lock Screen
If the step counter your Huawei phone tracks with its built-in pedometer never shows up on the lock screen, the Magazine lock screen style is probably not active. Without it, the Show step count toggle in your settings has no visible effect, so the number stays hidden even though tracking runs in the background.
Set Default Apps
If your Huawei phone keeps asking which app to use every time you tap a link or open a song file, no default app is assigned for that action yet. EMUI shows this picker whenever several apps can handle the same task and none of them has been set as the standard. Once you pick a permanent default, the picker disappears and the chosen app opens automatically.
Enable or Disable Auto-Download Updates over WiFi
If your Huawei phone keeps grabbing software updates the moment it connects to WiFi, storage fills up before you even decide to install anything. On the other hand, if updates never seem to download on their own, this WiFi-only auto-download setting is usually the reason. Either way, the update only gets fetched, not installed, until you confirm it.
Set Up Fingerprint Unlock
If your Huawei phone still asks for a pattern, PIN or password every time you wake the screen, fingerprint unlock probably has not been set up yet. Huawei phones require an existing backup unlock method before a fingerprint can be registered, since the print alone is never used as the sole security layer. Without that fallback in place, the fingerprint menu blocks you from adding a print at all.
Enable or Disable Magazine Unlock
If your Huawei lock screen keeps swapping in a new photo every time you wake the display, Magazine Unlock is running in the background. The images refresh automatically over Wi-Fi and rotate through a category you can pick, which some people find distracting or unnecessary. If you never chose this look, or you want it back after a reset, the switch sits inside the wallpaper settings rather than the lock screen menu itself.
Set Up or Reset APN Settings
When mobile data stays off even though your SIM is active, a wrong or missing APN entry is often the cause. Carriers usually push this configuration automatically, but a failed update or a manual change can break the connection. If your Huawei phone shows a signal but no internet access, the APN list is the first place to check.
Enable or Disable Automatic Data Backup
If your Huawei phone skips its weekly backup, the charger and battery level requirements are usually the reason. Auto-backup only runs while the device is plugged in and charged to at least 75 percent, so a missed connection means a missed backup. Checking the current setting is the fastest way to find out why your last backup never happened.
Show WiFi Password as QR Code
Typing out a long WiFi password for a visiting friend gets annoying fast, especially with mixed-case letters and symbols. Your Huawei phone can turn the password of a network you are already connected to into a scannable QR code instead.
Set Memory Card as Preferred Storage
If your Huawei phone still saves photos and videos to internal memory even with an SD card inserted, the camera is not set to prioritize the card. This mostly happens after a factory reset or when a new memory card is inserted for the first time. Burst shots and some background tasks can keep landing on internal storage even after the change.
Unhide Albums in Gallery
Albums you hid in Gallery for privacy do not vanish, they just stop appearing in the main overview. If a folder with photos or videos suddenly seems missing on your Huawei phone, it is usually parked in the Hide albums list rather than deleted.