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Samsung

Guides for Samsung Galaxy A8 Star

520 guides

Notifications & Focus2

Timer Vibration On/Off

If your Samsung timer tone is too quiet or your phone sits in another room, a missed timer alert can ruin cooking, laundry, or focus sessions. The timer sound and phone vibration are controlled by two separate settings inside the Clock app, so a loud ringtone volume alone does not guarantee you feel the alert. Adding vibration gives you a physical cue on top of the tone.

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Calls & Messages2

Filter Call History by Type

When your Samsung call log mixes missed, rejected, and outgoing calls together, finding one specific entry gets tedious fast. A built-in filter narrows the list down to just what you need, for example missed calls only or calls tied to one SIM. This works on any dual-SIM Samsung phone.

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Other2

Turn VoLTE Calls On or Off

If calls sound muffled, take longer to connect, or switch to a spotty 3G signal mid-call, VoLTE might be turned off on your Samsung phone. Voice over LTE routes calls through your carrier's data network instead of the older 2G or 3G circuit, which affects voice clarity, connection speed and even battery drain. On dual SIM models each SIM line has its own separate VoLTE switch, so one number can sound noticeably better than the other.

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Other2

Request Desktop Site in Samsung Internet

Some websites hide download buttons, settings pages or entire tools when Samsung Internet loads the mobile version instead of the full site. If a page looks stripped down or a feature just will not work, the browser is likely serving you the mobile layout by default. Forcing the desktop version brings back the complete site as it appears on a computer.

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Calls & Messages2

Show or Hide Calendar Week Numbers

If your Samsung Calendar does not show which calendar week you are currently viewing, the week number display is probably switched off. Without it, planning around ISO week numbers for invoices, shifts, or project deadlines means counting weeks by hand. The option sits inside the calendar app itself, not in the general phone settings.

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Other2

Turn On/Off Bold Font

If every app on your Samsung suddenly looks like its letters gained extra weight, the system-wide Bold font toggle is likely active. This setting thickens all text, including fonts that are already bold, such as Gothic Bold, which can make some layouts look cramped or hard to scan. It sits separately from font size, so changing text size alone will not fix it.

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Network & Connectivity2

Unpair a Bluetooth Device

When a Bluetooth accessory keeps reconnecting automatically or you no longer trust a device on the list, removing the pairing is the only reliable fix. A simple disconnect just drops the current link but leaves the device saved, so it reconnects the next time it is nearby. Unpairing removes the stored connection completely and forces a fresh setup if you ever want to use it again.

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Network & Connectivity2

Set Up Mobile Hotspot with a Custom Name and Password

The first time you turn on the mobile hotspot on a Samsung phone, it broadcasts under the device name with an autogenerated password. That default network name is often confusing for guests and reveals your phone model to anyone scanning nearby networks. You can replace both the name and password before sharing your connection.

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Photo, Video & Media

Change Video Resolution

If your videos look pixelated or your storage fills up too fast, the camera might be set to the wrong resolution. Not every Samsung model offers the same options: some stop at FullHD, while others let you record in UltraHD. Picking the right setting depends on what you plan to do with the footage.

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Apps & Installation

Allow or Block Apps for Edge Lighting

Edge Lighting only reacts to the Messages app by default, so notifications from other apps never trigger the curved glow. If a supported app is missing from the list, it stays invisible on the edge screen even with its own alerts turned on. You can pick exactly which apps light up the edge or switch on a setting that covers all of them at once.

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Photo, Video & Media2

Turn On/Off Mono Audio

If you share headphones or only wear one earbud, stereo playback leaves you missing half the sound. Samsung phones split calls, music, and video audio across left and right channels by default, so a single ear only catches part of the mix. Mono audio merges both channels into one so nothing gets left out.

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Network & Connectivity2

Change Preferred Network Mode

If your Samsung phone keeps dropping to a slower connection or won't pick up 4G or 5G even with full signal bars, the Network mode setting might be locked to an older standard. This option decides whether the device connects using 2G, 3G, 4G, or 5G, and a wrong choice here cuts off faster networks completely. On dual-SIM models each SIM slot has its own separate setting.

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Storage & Backup2

Mount SD Card Manually in Storage Settings

If your Samsung phone shows an SD card as inserted but the gallery, camera, or file manager still cant see it, the card is likely unmounted rather than broken. This happens after a restart, a card swap, or when the phone fails to auto detect the card on boot. Mounting makes the storage available again without formatting anything.

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Photo, Video & Media2

Enable Grid Lines in Camera

Framing a shot by eye often leaves the horizon tilted or the subject off-center in the final photo. Samsung cameras include an on-screen grid overlay meant to fix this, but many people never notice the toggle or don't know which pattern fits their shot. Portraits and landscapes benefit from different grid styles, so picking the wrong one still leaves composition guesswork.

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Network & Connectivity2

Set Default SIM Card for Mobile Data

If mobile data feels slow after inserting a second SIM, your Samsung phone is likely still pulling data through SIM card 1 by default. On some models only that first slot supports fast LTE, so calls or texts on SIM 2 work fine while data stays sluggish. Switching the active data SIM fixes this without removing either card.

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Language & Input2

Turn Swipe Typing On or Off on the Keyboard

If dragging your finger across the letters does nothing, or the keyboard keeps guessing the wrong word while you glide between keys, the built-in gesture typing might be switched off or set to the wrong mode. Samsung labels this feature keyboard swipe control, while most other Android keyboards call the same trick glide typing or swipe typing. Getting the setting right decides whether the keyboard reacts to continuous finger movement at all.

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System & Settings2

Turn JavaScript On or Off in Samsung Internet

If buttons, menus, or forms suddenly stop reacting on a website in Samsung Internet, JavaScript has often been switched off. Some pages refuse to load content at all without it, since most modern sites rely on the scripting language for interactive elements. The toggle for this sits buried inside the browser's site permissions and is easy to overlook.

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System & Settings2

Check for Software Updates

If your Samsung phone still shows the old software version, the automatic background check may not have run yet. Update search only happens at set intervals, so a released patch can sit unnoticed for hours or longer. Triggering a manual check tells you right away whether a new version is actually available.

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Calls & Messages2

Edit a Contact Group

A contact group on your Samsung phone rarely stays useful forever. Team members change, a birthday club grows, and the group ringtone you picked months ago no longer matches the rest of your alerts. Renaming the group, swapping members, or changing its sound is not obvious if you have never opened the group settings before.

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Network & Connectivity2

Turn Location Tags On or Off for Photos and Videos

Every photo or video you shoot with the Samsung Camera app can quietly attach your exact GPS coordinates to the file. Share that picture online or send it to someone, and the location data travels with it, revealing exactly where it was taken. Most people only notice this after a photo has already exposed a home address or workplace.

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Apps & Installation2

Change Default Messaging App

If your preferred messaging app never opens incoming texts, Samsung is still routing standard SMS through its own Messages app. Samsung lets you actively pick which app handles text messages, unlike some other Android setups. A screen lock combined with a restart can also delay message loading until you unlock the device once.

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Calls & Messages2

Remove a Contact Group Member

If a contact group still includes someone who should no longer get group texts or calls, they have to be taken out manually. On Samsung phones there is no swipe-to-delete inside a group; you first need to switch into edit mode, which is where most people get stuck looking for a simple remove option.

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System & Settings2

Clear Browsing History in Samsung Internet

If Samsung Internet keeps suggesting old searches or autofilling addresses you would rather forget, your browsing history is probably still full. The browser stores every visited page except the ones opened in secret mode, and that list keeps growing until you clear it manually. You can remove a single entry or wipe the entire history at once.

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System & Settings2

Show or Hide Weather in World Clock

If every city in your Samsung World Clock list shows a small weather icon next to the time, that extra data can make a long list feel cluttered fast. The weather display comes from the same location data used for the time difference, and it applies to all saved cities at once, not just one. You can turn this display on or off without deleting any of the clocks you already added.

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