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Samsung

Guides for Samsung Galaxy S21 5G

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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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Display & Home Screen

Keep Screen On While Viewing: Turn On or Off

If your Samsung display refuses to dim or lock even though you are not touching it, the front camera is probably detecting your face and keeping the screen awake. This happens through a gesture feature called Keep screen on while viewing, which reads your gaze to stop the display from timing out. It can look like a battery drain issue if you never switched it on knowingly.

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Network & Connectivity2

Manage App Location Permissions

If a delivery tracker or maps app suddenly can't find your position, you likely denied its location request the first time it asked, maybe by accident. On Samsung phones that first choice isn't final - each app's access can be reviewed and changed later. Mixing up 'Allow' and 'Deny' at the initial prompt is one of the most common reasons apps stop showing your location.

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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 & 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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Other2

Find on Page in Samsung Internet

Scrolling through a long article to find one keyword wastes time, especially on news sites or long product pages. Samsung Internet has a built-in Find on page feature that highlights every match on the current page so you do not have to read the whole thing. Many users never notice this option because it sits inside the browser menu instead of the address bar.

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Network & Connectivity2

Send a File via Bluetooth

Sharing a photo or document with a paired Bluetooth device does not always work through the usual share sheet. If the receiving phone or tablet does not show up in the device list, the transfer stalls before it starts. This applies to photos, documents and videos moved directly between two Samsung devices without Wi-Fi or a cable.

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Calls & Messages2

Remove a Speed Dial Number

An old contact still sits on a speed dial slot even though you deleted the number ages ago, or you just want to free up a slot for someone else. Speed dial entries do not always clear themselves right away, and the list can get cluttered fast if you never open the assignment screen.

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Notifications & Focus

Schedule Do Not Disturb Automatically

Turning Do Not Disturb on and off by hand every night or before every meeting gets old fast, and it is easy to forget switching it back off. Samsung phones let you set fixed days and times so the mode activates and deactivates on its own. A custom schedule name also helps when you want more than one routine, like work hours and sleep.

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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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Notifications & Focus2

Use Volume Keys for Media Volume

Pressing the volume keys on a Samsung phone usually changes the ringtone volume, even while a video or song is playing. That happens because Samsung's One UI ties the physical buttons to the ringer channel by default, leaving media playback at whatever level it was last set to. A dedicated toggle changes this behavior so the same keys adjust media volume directly.

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Storage & Backup2

Clear App Cache

If an app freezes, crashes on launch, or shows outdated information right after an update, leftover cache files are usually the reason. Samsung apps store temporary data to load faster, but that data can go stale or corrupted over time. Clearing the cache removes this junk without touching your logins, settings, or saved files.

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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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Notifications & Focus2

Turn Pop-up Notifications On or Off for an App

If a Samsung app keeps flashing a banner across your screen every time a message or alert comes in, that's a pop-up notification, and it can get distracting fast. Some apps switch this on by default, others leave it off, and the setting lives separately inside each app rather than in one global switch. Fixing it means finding the right notification category for that specific app.

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Apps & Installation2

Uninstall an App

An app you no longer use keeps taking up storage space and might still run background processes on your Samsung phone. Deleting it through the Google Play Store removes the app itself, but the built-in Settings menu gives you a direct way to remove it along with its stored data. Once removed, any saved data, logins, or app files linked to that app are gone for good.

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Calls & Messages

Restore Deleted Messages from Trash

If a text message disappears from the Samsung Messages app, it usually is not gone for good. Samsung keeps deleted messages in a Trash folder for a set period before permanent removal, and you can bring them back during that window.

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