Sony Xperia XA1 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 want to clear your website browser history, cache or cookies on the Sony Xperia Xa1 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 Sony Xperia Xa1

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 Sony Xperia Xa1

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.

Soft resetting is just the process of rebooting your phone. In contrast, a hard rest is when you remove everything from the phone to restore it to the factory state.

Normally you can simply restart the phone in the normal way via the power button, but if it has crashed, that may not be possible.

To soft reset your phone press and hold the Power/Lock button for around 8 to 10 seconds. The phone will restart automatically.

If that doesn’t work, then remove the battery (if it has one). Wait 30 seconds and put the battery back in. Then press the Power/Lock button to turn the phone on.

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 – Apps. Then scroll down to Contacts Storage – Clear Data. This option may not be available on all models.

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 – Cloud and accounts – Accounts.

Then scroll down and select Google.

Next, change the slider so that Sync Contacts is disabled.

Then go to Gmail 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.

There are a number of ways to speed up your phone. The following list are tried and trusted techniques:

Firstly, uninstall apps that you don’t use. Over time your device can get cluttered as some Apps are designed to always run in the background. If you don’t use an App very often, then uninstall it to free up memory and CPU resource.

Use Static wallpapers instead of Live ones. Live wallpapers often consume processing power and memory. Unless you really need them, uninstall them.

Use home screen widgets sparingly. These often slow down the phone and use up memory and CPU resources. If you don’t really need the widget, then uninstall it.

Install a great App called DU Speed Booster and DU Battery Booster. These Apps are prefect to run when your phone starts to slow down, you’re running out of memory or you want your battery to last for a few more minutes or hours.

Kill tasks occasionally – Some Apps will run in the background indefinitely unless you kill them. Most of them won’t cause a problem, but it pays to check your running tasks from time to time. Hold down your Home key and check the Task Manager.

Android now comes with a sound Equaliser so you can adjust your bass and treble.

Simply open a music file using the Music Player App or just open the App.

Then press More in the top right and choose Settings – SoundAlive and then select Custom.

Then simply move the sliders or dials to adjust the bass and treble.

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

This might not work on all models.

If you find yourself woken up by notifications, text messages or incoming calls, then there is a handy feature called Do not disturb.

To enable this go to Settings – Sound and vibration – Do not disturb.

Next, select Enable now or Enable as scheduled.

The latter option will give you options to set the time period for your Do not disturb.

You can also add exceptions to allow notifications from certain contacts that you don’t mind bothering you.

If you see the following error:
com.system.patch error

Then pull down your notification menu and choose Settings.

Then, select Lock screen and security – Other security settings – Device Administrator.

On the next screen, uncheck com.system.patch

Now, go to your App Manager and you should be able to uninstall it.

If you like your Apps neatly sorted into folders, or just need to clear up some space on your home screens, then there is a simple way to accomplish this.

First find the first App you would like in a folder. Then choose a second App.

Press and hold on the second App and drag it over the top of the first App. They will both combine into a folder.

You can repeat this process to add more.

To undo this, press to go into the folder. Then press and hold an App icon to place it outside of the folder again.