Samsung Galaxy A3 Tips and Tricks

Android 4.4 (Kit Kat)
Phone: Samsung Galaxy A3
Factory OS: Android 4.4 (Kit Kat)

Have you updated your Operating System?
Then view tips for the most recent OS version(s): Android 9 (Pie) & Android 8 (Oreo)
Or view tips for all Android versions

Android has a feature allowing you to update Applications automatically. This is turned off by default, but you can turn it on.

Open the Play Store App and press the Menu icon in the top left of the App. Then select Settings and Auto-update apps.

From here you can chose to do this over WiFi only or using your Data connection.

To delete or remove homescreen widgets, simply press and hold. Then drag the widget to the top-right corner of the screen and into the Trash icon.

This tip is relatively obvious, but some users overlook it.

Once you go into your Apps screen you should see a row of 5 dots. This indicates which of the 5 App screens you are on. Rather than flick between each screen, you can simply press one of the dots and you will jump to that homescreen.

Or alternatively, slide your finger across the dots to move between screens.

Rather than having to locate the hang up icon on the screen after each call, you can quickly end a call by pressing the Power button.

To enable this feature, go to Settings – My device – Accessibility – Answering/ending calls. Then tick The power button ends calls.

Android manages Apps very well and some Apps do not have the option to close them specifically. Normally the App will stay running in the background and only close when many other Apps have been opened.

If you do want to close or terminate an App, then press and hold the Home key on your phone. Then you can swipe the Apps off the screen to close them.

If you want to remove the Google Search bar, then go to Settings – More – Application manager.

Then swipe from right to left so you are on the All screen. Scroll to Google search and press Disable.

From the Contact list or the Messaging list, swipe from Left to Right to call a Contact.

This might not work on all models.

To change the backlight screen timeout, go to your Home Screen and press the menu key (bottom right). Choose Settings – My Device – Display – Screen timeout. Then choose the screen time out duration.

You can also tell the phone screen to always stay lit when it is plugged in via USB. Go to Settings – More – Developer Options. Then check Stay Awake.

Note: Developer Options is not always enabled by default. To enable, go to Settings – More – About Device. Then tap on Build number 7 times.

To copy files between your phone and PC, go to the Android Play Market and download an app called Air Droid.

This is an extremely useful App that connects your phone to your PC wirelessly, allowing you to move files and many, many other things.

The phone has the ability to send quick response text messages if your phone is ringing but you can’t answer it.

To change these, go to your Dialler App and press the menu button. Then select Call Settings – Set up call reject messages. You can then add or edit your reject messages.