Asus Zenfone 5Z Tips and Tricks
Factory OS: Android 8 (Oreo)
Have you updated your Operating System?
Then view tips for the most recent OS version(s): Android 9 (Pie)
Or view tips for all Android versions
Warning: This will remove ALL data on the phone (but not the MicroSD card).
To perform a hard reset, or factory reset, then there are a number of methods to try:
1) Go to Settings – Personal – Backup and reset – Factory data reset – Reset device. It may ask for a password. Then select Erase everything.
If the phone is totally unresponsive, even after a reboot, then try the following methods.
2) While the phone is turned off, press and hold the Volume Up and Volume Down buttons together. Then, while holding these, press and release the Power button (keep holding the volume buttons). The phone should turn on and a menu will appear. Press the Volume down button to navigate to the Recovery option. Press the Volume Up to select (if that doesn’t work, use the Power button to select). A yellow triangle and an Android logo will appear. Press the Volume Down and Volume Up button together and a recovery menu should appear. Use the Volume buttons to move to the Wipe data/Factory reset option and then press Power to select. Again, use the Volume Down key to choose Yes and press the Power button again to select.
3) While the phone is turned off, press and hold the Volume Down button. Then, while holding, press and release the Power button. A menu should appear. Use the Volume down key to go to Clear Storage. Use the Power button to select the option. Then when asked to confirm, press Volume Up for Yes.
4) While the phone is off, press and hold down Volume Up + Home + Power buttons at the same time. Then release the buttons when you see the Logo. Use the Volume Down button to go down and the Home or Power key to select. Choose the Wipe data/Factory reset option. Then Select Yes to delete all user data. Then choose to reboot the phone.
5) A final method is to enter the code into your phone’s dialler: *2767*3855# This method will not give you an option to reverse the process, so be careful! This method will only work if you can boot into your phone.
If you want to access your quick settings more quickly, then instead of swiping down with one finger, then use two.
This should take you straight to the quick settings, however it may not work on all phones and models.
There are a number of ways, as below. The first two of these may be disabled on some networks/carriers or Android versions however.
1) Go to Settings – Device – Applications – Application Manager. Then swipe from right to left until you are on the All screen (at the top). Then scroll down to Contacts Storage – Clear Data.
2) Go to Contacts. Then hold and press on a contact. Then choose the All option at the top of the screen and select Delete. .
3) Go to Settings – Personal – Accounts and sync. Then press More at the top and choose Disable auto sync. Then go to Gmail (or an account that your phone syncs with) and delete all of your Contacts from there. Then re-sync your phone.
4) Download an App called ‘Delete All Contacts’ and use that as a last resort.
The methods above will delete contacts from the Phone only, not the SIM card.
If you want to clear your website browser history, cache or cookies on the Asus Zenfone 5z because you don’t want other people to snoop around (or you just want to clean up your list), then that is actually very easy to do. Just follow these steps:
- First, open the browser you use and look for the Menu or “More” button/icon.
- Then go to History → Clear Browsing Data.
- At the top, you will see that you can choose to delete data from a week or several months ago. You may also choose to delete everything by tapping “All Time.”
- You will see a list of data that you can tap to clear. You can clear cache, cookies, passwords, browser history and more.
- Be aware that if you delete cookies you will have to login to your online accounts again.
- Then, select browser history, then tap “Clear Data.”
This method generally works if you use Chrome on your phone. If you have multiple devices that use your Google Chrome account, you might notice that your browser history, cache and cookies are also reflected on other devices. These may get deleted too if you delete them from your phone.
If you don’t want this to happen, you can turn off sync on your device. This means that the browser history, cache, cookies, and other private data will just be removed from your phone alone.
To turn off sync on your Chrome, just follow these steps:
- Make sure you have already logged in your Google Account on Chrome.
- On Chrome, click on your Profile / Account icon (located at the top right portion).
- Look for Sync is On → Turn Off
- After this, you can delete your browser history, cache, and cookies on your phone without removing it on your other devices.
For Samsung phone users who are using the default Samsung Internet browser, you can clear your browser history, cache and cookies in a similar way to that of Chrome users. Just follow these steps:
- Open the Samsung Internet browser.
- Tap on the Menu icon.
- Go to Settings → Privacy and Security
- Scroll down to Personal Data then tap “Delete Browsing Data.”
- A list will open up and you can tap to delete other data such as cache, cookies, passwords, location data, among others.
- Select “Browsing History” then tap “Delete.”
If you are using a different browser, the steps are almost the same. The key is to look for your browser’s settings and look for the “Privacy” or “Data” section.
How to clear the cache on your Asus Zenfone 5z
To clear your phone’s cache, the steps are similar with that of clearing your browser history. All you have to do is click on your browser and open its Menu. For Google Chrome users, just follow these steps:
- Open Chrome and go to Menu or tap on the More (three-dotted) icon.
- Then go to History → Clear Browsing Data.
- At the top, you will see that you can choose to delete data from a week or months ago. You may also choose to delete everything by tapping “All Time.”
- You will see a list of data that you can tap to clear. You can clear cache, cookies, passwords, browser history and more.
- Just select Cache, then tap “Clear Data.”
For those who are using the default browser on Samsung phones, the steps are also similar with that of clearing your browser history:
- Open the Samsung Internet browser.
- Tap on the Menu icon.
- Go to Settings → Privacy and Security
- Scroll down to Personal Data then tap “Delete Browsing Data.”
- A list will open up and you can tap to delete other data such as cache, cookies, passwords, location data, among others.
- Select “Cache” then tap “Delete.”
If you are using a different type of browser, the steps are still quite similar. What you really have to look for is the Privacy, Data, or Security settings of your browser. Just open your browser and look for its Settings or “More” option.
How to Clear Cookies on the Asus Zenfone 5z
Clearing cookies from your phone is done similarly with clearing your browser history and cache. For Google Chrome users, just use these steps:
- Open Chrome and go to Menu or tap on the More (three-dotted) icon.
- Then go to History → Clear Browsing Data.
- At the top, you will see that you can choose to delete data from a week or months ago. You may also choose to delete everything by tapping “All Time.”
- You will see a list of data that you can tap to clear. You can clear cache, cookies, passwords, browser history and more.
- Just select Cookies, then tap “Clear Data.”
For those who are using the default Samsung browser, you can follow these steps:
- Open the Samsung Internet browser.
- Tap on the Menu icon.
- Go to Settings → Privacy and Security
- Scroll down to Personal Data then tap “Delete Browsing Data.”
- A list will open up and you can tap to delete other data such as cache, cookies, passwords, location data, among others.
- Select “Cookies” then tap “Delete.”
For those who are using other types of mobile browsers, the steps would be similar. Just look for the Menu then look for your browser’s Privacy, Data, or Security options.
To lock your screen while you are watching videos, simply press the power button.
This will disable the touchscreen buttons while the video is playing, but it won’t turn the screen off like the lock key normally does.
Note, this will only work on video files that you are playing that are stored on your phone. It won’t work for videos played within websites, such as YouTube videos.
While the stock standard keyboard is fine, there are much better keyboards available for the Asus Zenfone 5z.
First, you need to go to the Play Store and download one. Try searching for the word ‘keyboard’ and you will see a number of options.
One of the best keyboards is a keyboard called Swiftkey, which is a top-rated App. This will literally change the way you feel about your phone as the standard keyboard can be quite a frustrating experience.
Download your chosen keyboard and go through any install steps that you are presented with.
If you see a warning saying the keyboard will collect all information (including credit cards) just ignore this. This is just a security feature that Android shows for every third-party keyboard that you install.
Then, go to the App you want to type in. You should now see a little Keyboard icon on the row at the bottom of your screen, towards the bottom-right corner. Press that icon and you can switch between all of the keyboards you have installed.
Some other notable keyboards that work on the Asus Zenfone 5z are GO Keyboard and Gboard (the Google Keyboard). Download and install your keyboard app of choice. Once that’s done, follow these steps to switch your current keyboard to that newly installed one:
- You can click on your newly installed keyboard app (icon).
- Most of them can assist you on how to switch your keyboard.
- Just follow the instructions from the new keyboard app.
How to Switch Your Phone’s Default Keyboard to A New One
You can follow the steps above because most keyboard apps can assist you when it comes to switching the default keyboard to theirs. However, you can also do it manually by going to your Phone Settings. Just follow these steps:
- Go to Settings and scroll down or look for the “System” sub-menu.
- Under “System,” tap “Language and Keyboard” or “Language and Input.”
- Tap “Default Keyboard” and select the new keyboard app.
Depending on your unit and model, this method could vary. For those who can’t find the “Default Keyboard” option, you can follow these steps:
- Under “Language and Input,” you need to look for Virtual Keyboards → Manage Keyboards.
- Tap your keyboard of choice to activate it.
- You will get a message of confirmation. Just tap “OK.”
- Open your keyboard. You can do this by trying to write a message, email or search.
- Then tap the keyboard icon.
- Choose the Input Method (tap on your preferred keyboard).
Done! You can change your Asus Zenfone 5z keyboard’s theme, predictive text, and other settings by opening its menu. You can do this by locating the keyboard icon on your home screen, or by tapping on the settings icon when you open the keyboard for typing.
The most recent version of Android now comes with a built in Flashlight / Torch App.
To find this, simply pull down to see your notifications. Then on the top bar (where you see your settings for WiFi, Bluetooth etc.), scroll across until you see Torch.
From the Contact list or the Messaging list, swipe from Left to Right to call a Contact.
This might not work on all models.
It is best to avoid task killers such as Advanced Task Killer. Android is designed to automatically pre-load certain applications, even if you don’t load them yourself. If it starts to run low on memory, it will smartly unload the oldest running apps automatically.
Manually killing tasks will only mean they get loaded in memory again. Task killers can make the phone slow, laggy, or drain battery life more quickly.
Looking to find the IMEI nunber for your Asus Zenfone 5z? Read on.
An IMEI is a unique serial number that is assigned to your phone. Each phone has a unique IMEI, regardless of brand and model. Most insurance companies would ask for your IMEI because this helps them report and block the device once it gets lost or stolen.
If you’ve just bought your Asus Zenfone 5z, it is best to keep its package box and avoid throwing that to the bin. That could be very handy when you do lose your phone and you need to trace it using the IMEI code.
There are several ways to get your IMEI number by just using your phone. The easiest way is to go to the dialer and press *#06#. The IMEI should be displayed on your screen after entering the code.
Now for those who dialled *#06# on their phones, some might be seeing two types of serial numbers. Just take note of the first one, because that is most likely the IMEI.
Aside from that, you can also go to Settings → System → About Device → Status, then scroll down to locate your IMEI number. This could vary a bit depending on your phone model. Some smartphones list the IMEI under the About Device section. So just scroll down in case you don’t see it under System or Status.
The IMEI is also often imprinted on your battery cover. This means that you have to dismantle the back cover of your phone to get a copy of it. This is rather inconvenient. If you can still access your IMEI using the phone itself, then just do so. Except if your Asus Zenfone 5z is locked or has no power for some reason.


