Android 10 is coming and one of the improvements is navigation with gestures. That is enormously streamlined compared to version 9. Furthermore, a look at the dark mode, new transparency settings and various features such as the Focus mode.
When your Android 10 starts up, it doesn’t look much different than 9. But even without radical new features – whether the OS still gets the name of a delicacy or not – the operating system offers new ways to get through your smartphone, this one to adjust and to protect it. If you can’t find anything new, look in the wrong place. Here are the best new features of Android 10 and how you use them.
Dark theme
The dark mode is a simple feature that many people look forward to. In Android it is called Dark theme and it turns many elements in the standard apps from Google in terms of colors: from blinding white to black or dark gray. Unfortunately it is all a bit shattered with some apps that automatically darken and others where you have to turn a button yourself.
Ready for Dark theme
- With notifications
- Google Search widget
- Chrome
- Google Pay
- Contacts
- Drive
- Keep Notes and lists
- photos
- Files
- Play Games
- Settings
Separate dark mode in app settings:
- Calculator
- Messages
Always dark:
- Clock
- Play Movies
Not ready for Dark theme:
- Gmail
- Home
- Maps
- News
- Play Books
- Play Store
- Wear OS
You can enable the Dark theme in two ways for the apps and elements that support it. The simplest is in the notifications window. If you pull it further down for quick settings, there is a Dark theme icon. A slider has also been added to the screen settings. Google has also hinted at the Android 10 site to Dark theme for Maps and Assitant, so it can’t take long for leftover apps to receive this support.
Gesture navigation
Technically, navigation has already started in Android 9, but in almost all respects Android 10 is the actual debut. That’s because Google has refined the sign system and introduces a lot of new ways to get through your device. If you select this navigation, you will notice that the buttons that you normally see at the bottom disappear completely. They have now been replaced by a line as you see on the iPhone to indicate the home button. Google has streamlined the entire system, so you are less dependent on the home button.
Home: Swipe up from the bottom of the screen when you are in an app.
Switch to other app: Swipe left or right at the bottom of the screen.
App overview: Swipe up from the home button and hold your finger still in the center of the screen.
Open app drawer: Swipe up from the bottom of the screen in a homescreen, or swipe up a second time in the app overview.
Assistant: Swipe from the left or right corner of the screen.
Because the back button has disappeared, you may wonder how you go to the previous screen in an app. To do this, swipe from one of the sides of the screen. Swiping from left to right, or vice versa, in an app means that you go back a window. You see the animation of an arrow and feel a slight vibration, after which you just have to let go to go to the previous window.
You will also see a new gear icon next to the description of how a gesture works. Here, for example, you set the sensitivity of the device to your swipe to activate the functionality of the back button. This fine control is important, because some apps slide out side menus or have other actions in the side of the image.
Google has determined that an app can only block up to 25 percent of the lower half of the left side, so developers can still use sidebars without blocking the return gesture. If an app has a side menu, swiping from the bottom to the left causes the menu to expand, while swiping from another location calls up the previous window. If an app does not have a side menu, it does not matter from which position you swipe.
Android 10 notifications
It would not be a new Android version if there were no tweaks in the reporting system. The changes in Android 10 are not as radical as they were in Android Pie, but they are still useful. You can still long press or quickly swipe a notification to open the alert settings, but instead of turning everything off or continuing to display, you can now silence or tap on notifications to reach a finer-meshed menu.
Speaking of silent notifications, you can also find them better in Android 10. In the notifications window you see a new group for silent notifications, so that you can see at a glance which ones come through without buzzing or beeping. The settings per app are also streamlined, making them easier to understand and use.
The settings are largely the same as Android 9, but there are a few features that are worth mentioning. Apart from ‘Delete’ and ‘Stop now’ you now have the option to open an app from the App info window in the Apps and notifications settings. In the Notifications tab, you can now also see an estimate of how many notifications it sends per week, so that you can better assess whether you want to set a limit here.
New sharing functionality
The sharing functionality has become a bit of a pain in previous Android versions, but in 10 Google has addressed that. You still call it the same – via the share icon – but the feel and functionality are different. You immediately notice that it has become a lot faster. In previous versions it often took a second or two before possible apps and recent contacts were displayed, now it is almost immediate.
It is also faster to find a destination. The old version used app and cached data to predict who or what you wanted to share something with, a long messy list. In Android 10 that is divided into logical fields: your most frequently used contacts, followed by four apps based on how you use them and then an alphabetical list of all possible destinations. This makes it easier to find the app that you want to use.
Focus
Google released Digital Wellbeing in Android 9 as a way to see, among other things, how often you look at your phone and how often you use your various apps. This provided surprising insights. In Android 10, Google wants to help you to adjust any undesirable behavior. In addition to options such as ‘Nearly bedtime’ and app timers, Android 10 also has the new Focus mode.
As the name suggests, the mode allows you to focus your attention on your work by turning off distracting apps, such as Twitter or Candy Crush. Unlike app timers, you do not set a specific duration, so you have to switch Focus mode off again if you have a break. That’s easy, because there is a button in your quick settings above your notifications window to turn the mode on or off with a tap.
There is now also the Family Link feature. This parental control function was previously available via a separate app. Google now adds this to Android itself, so you can set up an account through the settings and limit what your children do, and even approve extra screen time. It was never so logical that Family Link were a separate download and app experience, so it’s nice to see that it is now integrated.
Privacy
The last couple of versions, Google has made changes to make Android more transparent and more private. Version 10 continues that, although many of these changes happen behind the scenes. For example, apps cannot access clipboard information or device info such as the IMEI and serial number without being specially authorized.
A few interesting settings have been added. There is a new Privacy menu in Settings, where Google has gathered a lot of controls to limit how much information Google can access. Most of them also stay in other menus – location history, ads, lock screen, etc. – but it’s useful to have them all in one place.
There is also a new Accessibility tab that tells you if apps have full access to your device. In my case only 1Password had such rights, but it is a lot easier with this tab to notice any rogue apps.
There is also a new Permissions manager in the Privacy tab. It works the same as the previous Permissions in the menu. For example, you can see here which apps have access to the camera, your contacts or microphone.
There is an important change with regard to Locations: instead of granting or withdrawing access, there is a third option – only allowed when the app is used. This means that an app cannot access or track your GPS data if you are not using it explicitly and you no longer have to worry about background tracking in the background.
Because most users are not aware of this change, Google occasionally pushes notifications to tell which apps are using your location. Occasionally you will see a message that a specific app appeals to your location because it has permission to do so. To indicate this authorization, tap on this notification and you will immediately arrive at the relevant app authorization.
Sharing WiFi passwords
There is one thing that guests want before you pour the coffee or cut the cake: your WiFi password. Android 10 makes it easier to pass on, which is useful for people with a complex password. If you now look at your Wi-Fi settings and click on your own wireless network, you will see a new Share button. Click on this and you will receive a QR code that another smartphone can scan to log in.