Proceed with caution.” However, it’s one of the first things we do at Greenbot whenever we get a new phone, and we’ve never experienced any real problems with it. Greenbotĭuring beta testing, the System UI Tuner is filled with all sorts of goodies.Īlso, as is the case with any beta or developer feature, there’s no guarantee that the toggles will work properly, as evidenced by the warning at the bottom of the window: “These experimental features may change, break, or disappear in future releases. Most notably there is no way to activate the menu on the Galaxy S7. While System UI Tuner is guaranteed to work on Nexus and Pixel phones, your mileage may vary with other manufacturers. Tap it and you’ll open up a set of options for tweaking the interface. In the second-to-last spot, you’ll see a new System UI Tuner option, right above the About phone tab. To get to the menu, scroll all the way to the bottom of the settings screen. Once you let go, the tiny cog will roll away and you’ll be taken to the Settings app and a box will appear saying, “Congrats! System UI has been added to Settings.” Then, tap and hold the gear icon in the top right of the screen for a few seconds (on newer phones you’ll feel a vibration upon activation). GreenbotĮnabling the System UI Tuner is easy, but you need to know how to do it.įirst, you need to pull down the notification shade. And it's still there, hidden away from casual users. However, once the third preview came along, Google stopped making it something you could accidentally stumble upon and changed it to a hidden menu that needs to be activated through a very deliberate process. It was sort of a preview of features that Google was still working on the menu could be found under the System heading. When the Marshmallow preview launched in 2015, it brought a menu of customization options in Settings called System UI Tuner. With a little tinkering we can completely change the look of our phones, whether it’s through rooting, flashing a custom ROM, or installing a third-party launcher.īut if you’re a little skittish at the thought of voiding your warranty and possibly bricking your phone, you can still tweak Android with a few tricks via the System UI Tuner, a feature Google has built right into Settings. And it’s not just wallpapers and ringtones. One of the things that makes Android, well, Android is the incredible control we have over the interface.

What is system ui tuner