Google Pixel 3 Tips and Tricks

There is no need to be stuck with the standard Android keyboard, which isn’t always great for typing quickly.

Go to the Play Store and search for ‘Keyboard’ to see some great alternatives, many of which are more accurate and make typing much easier.

One of the very best is SwiftKey. They provide a free trial, but once the trial is over it is well worth the small amount of money they charge. It can increase your typing rates massively.

Another good one is GoKeyboard.

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.

If you don’t like the default A-Z way of viewing your contacts you can change this.

First, go to your Contacts App and press the Menu key or More at the top of the screen. Then select Settings.

Then choose Sort by.

To set your voicemail number which allows your phone to automatically input your voicemail password, then open your Dialler App.

Then press the More or Menu button and choose Call settings. Then scroll down to Voicemail settings and set a Voicemail number (you might need to check with your carrier for the correct number).

Depending on your carrier you may have to enter the series of steps required to go through the voicemail menu, for example: *86,,yourpassword# (a comma inserts a pause).

If you call someone regularly this can be useful as you will have a shortcut to them handily placed on your homescreen.

To bookmark a Contact on your Home Screen, then first go into your Contacts App.

Find the Contact you want to add to the Home Screen and press on them.

Then press More or the Menu key and select Add shortcut to home.

Then go to your Home Screens, find the Contact you’ve just added. Press, hold and drag to another position.

If you get tired of receiving sales calls or want to block a particular number, then you can set up auto call rejects on your device.

Often you will get calls from unknown numbers. Depending on how cautious or curious you are, then normally it’s good practice to ignore such calls. If you don’t want to answer, but you’d still like to know who the call is from, then you can simply Google the number and there are a number of websites which lists phone numbers with details about the company of the caller. From these sites you can easily see if the call you received is from a dodgy company or not.

Once you have established that you want to block or reject the call in future, then open your normal Dialler App. Then go to Logs and find the number you want to block. Long press on the number and select Add to reject list.

From now on you will see that you received a missed call, however the phone will not ring and you won’t be bothered by the caller.

To manage or manually enter numbers on your reject list, then again open your Dialler App. Press your Menu key and select Call settings. Then Call rejection. Then select Auto reject list to see your reject number list. You can also manually add numbers from here

Sometimes you may need your screen to stay on when plugged in via USB.

To do this, Drag down your notifications screen and press Settings. Then under System, select Developer Options. Then check Stay Awake.

If you can’t see Developer options then you need to enable this. Go to Settings – System – About device and press on Build number 7 times. Developer options will now appear in the System section of your settings.

If you want to clear your website browser history, cache or cookies on the Google Pixel 3 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:

1. First, open the browser you use and look for the Menu or “More” button/icon.
2. Then go to History → Clear Browsing Data.
3. 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.”
4. You will see a list of data that you can tap to clear. You can clear cache, cookies, passwords, browser history and more.
5. Be aware that if you delete cookies you will have to login to your online accounts again.
6. 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:

1. Make sure you have already logged in your Google Account on Chrome.
2. On Chrome, click on your Profile / Account icon (located at the top right portion).
3. Look for Sync is On → Turn Off
4. 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:

1. Open the Samsung Internet browser.
2. Tap on the Menu icon.
3. Go to Settings → Privacy and Security
4. Scroll down to Personal Data then tap “Delete Browsing Data.”
5. A list will open up and you can tap to delete other data such as cache, cookies, passwords, location data, among others.
6. 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 Google Pixel 3

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:

1. Open Chrome and go to Menu or tap on the More (three-dotted) icon.
2. Then go to History → Clear Browsing Data.
3. 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.”
4. You will see a list of data that you can tap to clear. You can clear cache, cookies, passwords, browser history and more.
5. 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:

1. Open the Samsung Internet browser.
2. Tap on the Menu icon.
3. Go to Settings → Privacy and Security
4. Scroll down to Personal Data then tap “Delete Browsing Data.”
5. A list will open up and you can tap to delete other data such as cache, cookies, passwords, location data, among others.
6. 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 Google Pixel 3

Clearing cookies from your phone is done similarly with clearing your browser history and cache. For Google Chrome users, just use these steps:

1. Open Chrome and go to Menu or tap on the More (three-dotted) icon.
2. Then go to History → Clear Browsing Data.
3. 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.”
4. You will see a list of data that you can tap to clear. You can clear cache, cookies, passwords, browser history and more.
5. Just select Cookies, then tap “Clear Data.”

For those who are using the default Samsung browser, you can follow these steps:

1. Open the Samsung Internet browser.
2. Tap on the Menu icon.
3. Go to Settings → Privacy and Security
4. Scroll down to Personal Data then tap “Delete Browsing Data.”
5. A list will open up and you can tap to delete other data such as cache, cookies, passwords, location data, among others.
6. 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 adjust your screen brightness, there are two options:

1) Simply drag your finger from the top of the phone down to pull down your quick settings screen. Then at the top there will be a brightness bar. Drag this left or right or press Auto.

2) Drag your notifications screen down and select Settings. Then under Device, select Display – Brightness. Then choose the desired brightness setting.

You can also select Automatic brightness to let the phone decide for you.

If you find yourself being stalked or receiving unwanted calls nuisance calls from people or companies then you should use the Call rejection mode.

Open your Dialler App and press More. Then Settings and Then find Blocked numbers. From here you can add & manage your rejection list of numbers.

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.