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Samsung

Guides for Samsung Galaxy Tab A7 10.4 (2020)

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Turn Ultra Wide Shape Correction On or Off

Wide-angle shots often bend straight lines near the edges of the frame, especially with faces or buildings close to the border. This warping, known as the fish-eye effect, comes from the ultra-wide lens itself. Samsung One UI can straighten these edges automatically, but the toggle is easy to overlook in the camera settings.

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Notifications & Focus2

Add Alarm Widget to Home Screen

Checking whether tomorrow's alarm is still active means opening the Clock app every time, even for a quick glance. Samsung's Alarm widget puts a single alarm directly on your Home screen, so you can switch it on or off and see the time without unlocking into the app. Each widget only tracks one alarm, so multiple alarms need one widget each.

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Display & Home Screen2

Customize Secure Folder Name and Icon

If your Secure Folder still carries its default label and icon, anyone glancing at your app list can spot exactly what it hides. Samsung lets you rename it and swap the icon for something less obvious, but the icon options are limited to presets and the initial letter of your chosen name. You cannot upload a custom image as the icon.

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Other2

Turn Off Personalized Ads on Samsung

If ads in your apps feel oddly specific to sites you visited or things you searched, Google's Advertising ID is behind it. This ID lets ad networks build a profile from your app and browsing activity, then match ads to your interests across different apps and services.

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Calls & Messages2

Mark a Contact as Favorite

If a contact you call or text often keeps sliding down your list, Favorites pins them to the top - but only once the flag is actually switched on for that person. On Samsung phones this same flag also controls the pinned row in the Phone app, so the two lists never match up on their own.

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Security & Privacy2

Set a Lock Screen with Pattern, PIN or Password

If your Samsung phone still starts up without asking for a Pattern, PIN or Password, anyone who picks it up can open your apps, messages and photos right away. Without an active screen lock, features like Secure Folder, Samsung Pass and biometric unlock cannot work properly either. Setting a real unlock method is the only way to keep the device locked between uses.

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Notifications & Focus

Vibration Alert for Missed Calls and Messages on Pickup

If your phone sits face-up on the desk, a missed call or message often stays unnoticed until you unlock the screen. Samsung phones can trigger a short vibration the moment you pick the device up, acting as a quiet catch-up signal. This depends on the 'Alert when phone picked up' option inside Motions and gestures, a feature many users never switch on.

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Apps & Installation2

Allow Unknown App Installations

Downloaded an .apk file straight from a website and your Samsung phone refuses to install it? That block comes from the system default that only trusts apps delivered through the Google Play Store or Galaxy Store. Since Android 9, this permission is no longer a single global switch, it has to be granted separately for every app that tries to install something.

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Photo, Video & Media2

Switch Between Front and Rear Camera

Jumping from a landscape shot to a quick selfie shouldn't mean closing the Camera app and reopening it. On Samsung phones the front and rear lenses share one interface, but the small switch icon is easy to miss if you're not looking for it. Knowing exactly where it sits saves you from fumbling mid-shot in both photo and video mode.

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Apps & Installation2

Uninstall Secure Folder

Secure Folder can't just be deleted from your Samsung phone - it has to be uninstalled through its own settings menu. Confirming the uninstall wipes everything stored inside it, including apps, photos, contacts and documents. Once removed, you can set up a new Secure Folder from scratch later.

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Calls & Messages2

Add a Photo to a Contact

If a contact still shows only the first letter of the name or one of the animated default images that come with your Samsung device, calls and messages look generic instead of personal. This happens because no custom photo has been assigned to that contact yet. Swapping in your own picture makes the caller instantly recognizable on the call screen and in Messages.

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Network & Connectivity2

Disable Automatic Hotspot 2.0 Wi-Fi Connection

If your Samsung phone keeps joining unfamiliar Wi-Fi networks in cafes, airports or train stations without asking, Hotspot 2.0 is doing its job in the background. The feature links you to certified public networks automatically, which can drain data or battery on networks you never chose yourself. You can switch this automatic behavior off in the Wi-Fi settings.

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System & Settings2

Reset All Settings

If your ringtone, keyboard behavior, or display options feel wrong after some tweaking, a full settings reset can undo the mess without touching your files. Samsung's Reset all settings option restores default values for sound, language, security, and other system menus while keeping apps, photos, and contacts exactly where they are. It is the safer alternative when you do not want to go through a complete factory reset.

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Notifications & Focus2

Dialing Keypad Tone: Turn On or Off

Every digit you tap on the phone keypad triggers a short tone, and on some Samsung phones that sound plays even with the ringer muted. This comes from a separate system tone setting, not from the ringtone volume or a call app option.

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Security & Privacy2

Show or Hide the Lockdown Button in the Power Menu

Face Detection, Smart Lock and even the fingerprint sensor are convenient, but none of them is the strongest lock on your phone. Samsung adds a Lockdown entry to the power menu that forces a PIN, pattern or password before anyone gets in, overriding those biometric shortcuts. If that button is missing, or you want it gone for good, the toggle sits in a spot most people never check.

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Security & Privacy

Smart Anti-Tracking: Turn On or Off

Closing Secret mode does not stop every site from tracking you across sessions. Cookies and browsing traces from the regular Internet app can still build a profile of you, even after you clear history manually. Smart anti-tracking works independently of Secret mode and can clean this up automatically.

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Apps & Installation2

Hide Apps from the Home Screen

If an app icon keeps cluttering your Samsung home screen even though you barely use it, uninstalling feels too drastic, especially for preinstalled apps you might need later. One UI has a built-in Hide apps option that removes the icon from the home and apps screens without deleting anything. The app stays installed, keeps running in the background, and is still listed in your full app settings.

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Other2

Change Font Style

If every menu, notification, and app on your Galaxy phone still shows the same default typeface, the system font hasn't been changed yet. Samsung ships built-in alternatives like 'SamsungOne' and 'Gothic Bold', and the Galaxy Store offers more fonts to download or buy. Until you adjust this setting in Display, the interface keeps the factory look everywhere.

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Other2

Manage Google Activity Controls

A new Google Account on your Samsung phone starts with every activity setting switched on. Google then logs Web & App activity, browsing history, YouTube history and builds a profile for personalized ads, often without you noticing how much data actually leaves the device.

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Photo, Video & Media2

Move Photos and Videos to an Album

Photos and videos from your camera or downloads often end up scattered across different albums, making it hard to find anything later. Samsung Gallery lets you move or copy several files into one album at once, but the prompt asking whether to copy or move can be confusing the first time you see it.

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Calls & Messages2

Change Calendar View

The Samsung Calendar app opens in month view by default, even if you prefer to track events by day or week. Switching to a different layout is done through a menu option that is easy to overlook the first time you look for it.

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Calls & Messages2

Show or Hide Frequently Contacted

If your Contacts app keeps showing a Frequently contacted section above your saved contacts, Samsung is tracking who you called or messaged most in the last 30 days. That list updates on its own and can expose contacts you would rather not have visible at a glance. The setting behind it sits in the Contacts app itself, not in your general phone settings.

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Security & Privacy2

Set Up Smart Lock

If your Samsung phone still asks for a PIN at home, in the car, or when it is paired with your smartwatch, Smart Lock is probably switched off. This Android feature keeps the device unlocked when it detects a trusted place, a trusted Bluetooth device, or that you are carrying it. Without it enabled, you fall back to manual unlocking every single time, even in low-risk situations.

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Network & Connectivity2

Enable Suspicious Network Detection for Wi-Fi

Connecting to a public Wi-Fi hotspot at a cafe or airport can quietly redirect your traffic through a rogue captive portal without any warning on screen. Samsung devices include a background check that flags this kind of suspicious network behavior, but the toggle for it is easy to miss and sometimes gets switched off during a reset. If the feature is disabled, your phone stays silent even when a network tries to intercept requests.

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