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Samsung

Guides for Samsung Gear S3

558 guides

Notifications & Focus2

Answer Calls with the Volume Up Button

Fumbling for the screen while a call rings on your Samsung phone wastes precious seconds, especially with the display off or the phone tucked in a pocket. A hidden call setting lets you pick up simply by pressing the volume up key instead of swiping the screen. Without it enabled, that button only adjusts ringtone loudness and does nothing to answer the call.

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Other

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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Security & Privacy2

Turn Off Screen Lock

Every time you wake your Samsung phone, you have to swipe past a PIN, pattern or password prompt before you reach the home screen. If you do not need that layer of protection, the lock screen still forces you through it on every wake. Removing the screen lock lets the device jump straight to the home screen instead.

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Language & Input2

Switch Keyboard Language While Typing

Typing a message and need to jump between two languages without leaving the keyboard? On Samsung phones the space bar swipe only works once a second input language is active - with just one language enabled, nothing happens when you swipe. This mix-up between the language switcher and the keyboard settings is the usual reason the gesture seems broken.

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Storage & Backup2

Move Apps to an SD Card

Samsung phones install every app to internal storage by default, and that fills up fast once photos, games and updates pile on. If your device has a memory card slot, moving apps off internal storage is often the quickest way to reclaim space without deleting anything you need.

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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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Security & Privacy2

Turn Find My Mobile On or Off

If your Samsung phone gets lost or stolen and you cannot see its location or lock it remotely, Find My Mobile is likely switched off or was never activated. This built-in locator works alongside Google Find My Device but also allows remote control of the phone, including unlocking it in specific cases. Knowing where the toggle lives makes the difference when you need to act fast.

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Other2

Turn Auto Spacing On or Off

Selecting a suggested word or finishing a swipe gesture on the Samsung keyboard automatically adds a space after it, even when you don't want one there. This auto spacing behavior runs per keyboard language, so fixing it for one language leaves every other installed language unchanged. Turning it off stops the extra space after suggestions and glide typing.

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Display & Home Screen2

Restore Default Theme

After trying a downloaded theme, a Samsung phone can end up looking nothing like the original layout. Icons, wallpaper, and app drawer colors from the custom theme often stay active even after you delete the theme file. Getting back the stock look needs a separate reset inside the Themes app rather than a simple uninstall.

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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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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

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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Notifications & Focus

Keyboard Vibration: Turn On or Off

If your Samsung phone stays silent when you type but you expect a light buzz with every key, the Samsung Keyboard vibration toggle is likely switched off. The opposite problem happens too: constant buzzing on every tap can feel distracting or drain battery faster than expected. This setting controls the haptic feedback for the on-screen keyboard only, separate from general system vibration.

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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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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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Language & Input2

Reset Samsung Keyboard Settings

If autocorrect keeps guessing wrong or the layout feels off after too much tinkering, a few changes buried in the Samsung Keyboard settings are usually the cause. Personal word predictions and custom shortcuts pile up over time and can throw off typing accuracy. Resetting the keyboard settings restores the original defaults and clears saved predictions.

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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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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

Screenshot Toolbar On/Off

If a small toolbar keeps popping up at the bottom of the screen every time you capture a screenshot on your Samsung phone, this quick-access bar is getting in the way instead of helping. It lets you crop, share or annotate the image right away, but it can also feel like clutter if you rarely use those shortcuts or if it blocks other content on screen.

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Network & Connectivity2

Set Up a Proxy Server for Wi-Fi

If your workplace or school network requires all traffic to pass through a specific server, a normal Wi-Fi connection on your Samsung phone will not get you online. Without the correct proxy host and port entered in the Wi-Fi settings, apps and browsers simply time out or show a connection error. This setup only affects the Wi-Fi network you configure it on, not mobile data.

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Network & Connectivity2

Set Apps to Always Use Mobile Data

If a messaging or banking app keeps burning through your mobile data plan while your phone shows a strong WLAN signal, Samsung's data usage settings are usually the reason. One UI lets you pin specific apps to mobile data only, and once that switch is on, the app ignores WLAN completely, even when the connection is fast and free. This setting is easy to flip by accident and easy to forget once it stays active.

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Display & Home Screen2

Change Folder Color on Home Screen

App folders on Samsung phones default to plain white or gray, which makes it hard to tell them apart at a glance. If you want folders to match your wallpaper or stand out visually, the color has to be changed manually per folder. You can also adjust how see-through the color appears.

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Display & Home Screen2

Set Up Secure Folder

Storing sensitive apps, photos, or documents in the regular gallery or app drawer means anyone who picks up your phone can open them. Secure Folder creates an encrypted, password-locked space that keeps selected apps and files separate from the rest of your device. Many Samsung owners never turn it on because the option sits buried inside the security settings and stays invisible until activated.

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