How to Download and Install Android M on Google Nexus 5, Nexus 6, Nexus 9, and Nexus Player

Android M, the latest version of the world's most popular mobile operating system, was announced at Google I/O 2015 on Thursday. Android M is still some time away from being ready for rollout - the launch to consumers is expected in Q3 of this year - the preview version for developers is now available.
(Also see: Android M: Top New Features in the Next Major Android Release)
This version of the OS is not ready for most people and we strongly suggest that you do not try installing this on your primary device as there is a good chance that there are bugs to iron out at this stage. If you have a spare Nexus device that you want to try the Android M preview on, then you can go ahead and follow the steps described later in this article. Before you do that, it's vital to take a full backup of your Android smartphone.

Android M preview is currently available on just four devices - Google Nexus 5, Google Nexus 6, Google Nexus 9, and GoogleNexus Player.
(Also see: Google Maps to Get New Offline Search, Turn-by-Turn Navigation Features)
Here's how to manually download Android M preview and install it on your Google Nexus devices.

1. Download and install the latest Android Studio Preview on your Windows computer. This installs the ADB and Fastboot programmes, which can be accessed through the command terminal on your PC.
2. Add the SDK folder to the PATH by following these steps:
3. Right click My Computer and click on Properties.
4. Click on Advanced System Settings.
5. Click on System Properties > Advanced > Environment Variables.
6. In the Window, select Path, then click on Edit, and then type in the name of the directory where you installed the SDK, and remember that each entry is separated by a semi-colon.
7. Enable USB debugging on your device. First, go to Settings > About Phone > Software information.
8. Tap Build number seven times.
9. Go to Settings > Developer options. Tick USB debugging.
10. Download the correct factory image for your device.
    
    Android M for Nexus 5
    Android M for Nexus 6
    Android M for Nexus 9
    Android M for Nexus Player
11. Extract the image on your computer.
12. Connect your device to your computer over USB.
13. Start the device in fastboot mode.

The easiest way to do this is to hold a key combination while powering up the device. For Nexus 5, hold the volume up, volume down and power buttons while powering on the device. The full list of key combinations for different devices is here.


You can also boot into fastboot mode using the ADB tool: With the device powered on, go to the command terminal and execute the following: adb reboot bootloader
If needed, unlock the device's bootloader through your computer using the command terminal and executing: fastboot oem unlock

1. Open a command terminal and navigate to the unzipped system image directory.
2. Execute flash-all.bat, which was a part of the unzipped image file. This script installs the necessary bootloader, baseband firmware(s), and operating system. For this to work, you need to have added the folder where ADB and Fastboot are installed to the system's path as described in step 2.
3. When this is done, Google recommends that you lock the bootloader for security. You can do that by booting the device in fastboot mode while still connected via USB, and using the command terminal to execute: fastboot oem lock.

That will install Android M preview on your Nexus device. Android M will receive monthly OTA updates until the final version ships, according to a report, so you won't have to repeat this complicated process again. We still recommend that you just wait a while until the OTA update arrives on your device, unless you want to stay on the bleeding edge of smartphone OS development.
For more tutorials, head to our How To section.

Android M: Top New Features in the Next Major Android Release

Google on Thursday at its eighth I/O annual developers' conference, held at the Moscone Center in San Francisco, revealed the next version of Android operating system dubbed Android M alongside announcing a new standalone service called Google Photos, which will store photos and videos for free.

The Mountain View company also released the new Android M developer preview, just like how Android Lollipop was released as Android L at last year's I/O conference. Similarly, the official name of the new OS version will only be revealed at the time of the next Nexus device launch, expected in October. Google also stressed that for Android M, the company has focused on improving the core experience of Android and has made some changes to the fundamentals of the platform apart from fixing several bugs. During the Google I/O keynote, the company also revealed that this time it will provide a clear timeline for Android M Developer Preview for testing and feedback to the preview build.
Here are biggest changes to Android that Google has introduced with Android M.
App PermissionsOne of the biggest additions that Android M brings to the Android platform is the revamped app permissions. The company, as rumoured previously, announced increased user control of app permissions in the M release. Android M also changes existing permissions system by breaking down user permissions into specific categories, and having apps ask the user for permission at the time access to a feature is required.

This changes how apps handle permissions, with apps now prompting requests for permissions when running, which means popups will flash in the right context and let users grant permissions for specific features. Additionally, users can manage all their app permissions in settings. The company has advised developers to design their apps in a way that they prompt permission requests in context, and even account for permissions that are not granted. "As more devices upgrade to M, app permission behaviour will be a critical development flow to test," writes Google.
Now on TapWith Android M, Google Now gets a major revamp with the Now on Tap feature. It brings a major overhaul to how Google can provide contextual information within an app itself. It works within any app and automatically searches the context present on the screen by just long pressing the home button.
The Now on Tap search (see below screenshot) is different from conventional search as it presents cards with data and actions. Google gives an example of a texting app where you receive a text from a friend asking about dinner at a new restaurant - now you can ask Google Now to search about the new place without leaving the app. The company wants developers to implement App Indexing for Google Search to let users discover and re-engage with apps through Now on Tap.
Web Experience
Google at I/O 2015 also revealed a new Chrome feature that will change the Web experience for Android users, called Chrome Custom Tabs. Instead of embedding a Web view in an app, developers can enable a Google Chrome overlay on top of the active app.

This overlay or Custom Tab will give users the convenience of Chrome's power and security along with their saved settings and passwords. The feature will become available on a stable version of Chrome for Android sometime in Q3 2015.

App LinksThe next improvement in the latest Android M release is intended towards handling Web links. This means Google wants its OS to easily handle links between apps with its Android M release. Until now, clicking a link within an app prompted a popup message asking user to open it within the app or to open it in a Web browser. Instead, with Android M, developers can have the operating system verify whether a link should open within an app or open via a new one. Google details that developers can add an autoVerify attribute to their app manifest so that users can be linked deep into the native app without any disambiguation prompt.
Mobile PaymentsGoogle was rumoured to be working on its new Android Pay mobile payment system for a long time and the company made it official at the I/O conference. The company revealed that Android Pay was developed on its work with Near Field Communications (NFC) in Android Gingerbread (v2.3) and Host Card Emulation in Android KitKat (v4.4). Android Pay will allow users to pay via their Android smartphones in stores or even in Android Pay partner apps. The new system will securely store details of credit cards, loyalty cards, and other payment-related data on the device. Google did not reveal the timeline of Android Pay's rollout but said it would be available on Google Play for download soon.

Fingerprint SupportFingerprint scanning technology on smartphones has been around for some time; though has been limited until now to select OEMs and their individual implementations. Google with its Android M release wants it to change and has added fingerprint APIs for developers to add into their apps. Google believes that native fingerprint support enhances the Android Pay feature that will allow users to confirm the purchase with their fingerprint. Apart from Android Pay, the feature will allow users to sign-in or authenticate themselves on apps, as well as on websites via Google Chrome.

Power ManagementEvery year we see Google coming up with a new feature in its latest Android release to improve upon battery usage. Last year it was Project Volta and this year Google is coming up with a new feature called Doze. The company believes that the new feature will make Android devices smart about managing power. With Android M release, the OS will realise via tracking motion detection whether the device has been left unattended for a while. Following this, Android will limit or 'exponentially' back off background activity of an app with the purpose of extending battery life. The best example of this can be the Twitter app which keeps on adding new tweets on top for the user to see only to use more data or Wi-Fi thus affecting the battery life. This will change with Android M.
New RAM managerGoogle is also bringing a new RAM manager that will offer more details about memory usage than just readouts for running apps. The new RAM manager in the Android M Developer Preview will be available in Settings > Apps. The manager will now show users how much memory recent apps are eating up and will rate them "good" and "average". Much like before, it will show individual app information. This new feature will let users recognise the most memory-hungry apps installed on the system and can help them to get rid of them.
Adoptable Storage Devices
We already know that Google for several reasons forgoes an SD card slot for its Nexus range of devices. However, the Adoptable Storage Devices feature might be the first sign that Google is changing its strategy to add some more space into the device 'smartly.'
With Android M, Google is adding the Adoptable Storage Devices feature which will treat external storage devices such as SD cards as internal. In order to do this, Google wants you to format your microSD card adding encryption which will make it only work on your device. The company will then let you use your microSD card on stock Android devices either as a portable storage or an internal storage. If the latter, users can then choose to store apps, app data, and other data on the SD card. As for external storage devices like USB drives, the new feature will let users assign as portable storage, and use it with the native file manager and get notifications for quick actions on the drive.

New App DrawerThe Android M Developer Preview also brings redesigned app drawer. With Android M, the app drawer along with widget picker will scroll vertically instead of sideways in previous generations. The colour design and icons looks similar to Android Lollipop.
Auto Backup and Restore for AppsWith Android M, Google will also be bringing what may be one of the most useful features for users often migrating between devices or formatting their smartphones - auto backup and restore for app data. With Android M, users will get their all apps backed up automatically to Google Drive - specifically settings and app data less than 25MB in total.
The company confirmed that the automatic backups will occur every 24 hours and will not count towards the user's personal Drive storage share. Interestingly, the data of the app is uploaded to the user's Google Drive account after encryption. The feature would allow people signing into their Google account on new Android devices, or on a device after a factory reset, to recover all their app settings and app data once they reinstall their apps and sign-in.

USB Type-CSupport
Google at I/O 2015 also announced that Android M will support USB Type-C ports. While this is great in terms of reversibility, and that with new Android devices with the port built-in users will never have to worry about which way their cable is facing, it also adds some other features. Since the standard allows for transfer of power, video, and audio in both directions, users can rely on just one port for their A/V needs, and, also charge other devices - this last was emphasised by Google at the announcement as well. With the new USB standard, users will also be able to charge their Android devices 3-5 times faster than earlier. Alongside, Android M will also get USB support for Midi devices.
Much like Android L, the new Android M Developer Preview includes an updated SDK with tools, system images for testing on the official Android emulator. It will be available for testing on Nexus 5, Nexus 6, Nexus 9, and Nexus Player devices.

How to Enable Guest Mode on Android

Ever needed to hand your Android smartphone to someone else for a while? If yes, then there's a good chance that you were worried about how easily they could go through your personal data or end up changing preferences or even deleting information like contacts or messages.

Fortunately, Android 5.0 Lollipop ships with a system-level guest mode. This lets you quickly switch to a separate guest profile that doesn't have any of your personal data such as messages, installed apps or preferences. This is as good as a fresh install of Android 5.0 Lollipop and the moment you switch back to your Google account, all data saved in the guest mode is removed. This makes it a particularly effective way of letting someone else use your phone for a while.

Here's how to enable guest mode on Android 5.0 Lollipop.

1. Swipe down from the top of the screen to pull down the notifications bar.
2. Tap your avatar on the top right twice.
3. Now you'll see three icons - your Google account, Add guest and Add user.
4. Tap Add guest.
5. Now your smartphone will switch to guest mode. This may take some time and the phone may be slightly slow initially, but in our tests with a Nexus 5 it worked well after a few minutes.
6. When you're done with guest mode, you can easily revert to your Google account. Follow steps 1 and 2 above and tap the icon that shows your Google account. This will delete all data saved in the guest session as well.

If your smartphone doesn't have Android 5.0 Lollipop installed, you should check for a pre-loaded guest mode. Some brands such as Xiaomi, LG, Samsung and Huawei pre-load an app that enables you to use guest mode on your smartphone. Different brands name this app differently, so look in your phone's app drawer for apps with names similar to Kids' Mode or Guest Mode. Some Android phones have guest mode embedded at the system level. For example the LG G3 has a guest mode that you can access by going to Settings > General > Privacy > Guest Mode.

If your phone doesn't have this feature, the most effective way to keep your personal data safe is by locking down certain apps. We've written a detailed guide on how to stop others from accessing your Android apps so be sure to check that. If you just want to keep Google Chrome away from prying eyes, you can read our guide toenabling guest mode in Google Chrome.

For more tutorials, visit our How To section.

How to Activate WhatsApp Voice Calling

WhatsApp's voice calling feature is now available to all Android users. The world's most popular messaging app with over 700 million monthly active users only introduced this feature recently and rolled it out gradually to its Android users. If you are not an Android user, you'll just have to wait a little longer to get this feature. But if you use Android, and haven't yet activated voice calling on WhatsApp, what are you waiting for?
The process isn't as simple as updating WhatsApp to start using the voice calling features. It involves a couple more steps that you need to follow. We've described these below, so take a look to enable voice calling on WhatsApp for Android.

1. Download the latest version of WhatsApp for Android from here. The latest version on WhatsApp's website is 2.12.7, but if you're downloading from Google Play, ensure that your device has version 2.11.561. Older versions don't support this feature for all users.
2. Once you have the latest version of WhatsApp installed on your Android phone, ask someone who has WhatsApp calling enabled to make a WhatsApp call to your number.
3. Multiple users have reported that giving a missed call doesn't work. You'll have to receive the call and wait for a few seconds before disconnecting to activate WhatsApp voice calling.
4. When the feature is enabled on your smartphone, you'll see a new three-tab layout on WhatsApp, one each for Calls, Chats and Contacts.

Have you used WhatsApp calling on Android? Does the feature work well? Let us know via the comments. For more tutorials, visit our How To section.

How to Enable Guest Mode in Google Chrome

Google Chrome is one of our favourite browsers on iOS, Android and Windows. We like it because it works well and allows you to easily import your preferences and other browser data across platforms. While there's no doubt about how useful this feature is, it can become a problem if you're not the only one using your computer.
If someone else takes your phone or computer and starts using Google Chrome, that person will have access to all your saved passwords. Another problem is that if you, like us, have spent some time setting up Google Chrome to suit your needs, then you might not want anyone else to change things. If you're signed in to Google Chrome via the same account on two devices, you remove an extension on one computer and it disappears on the other too. So it's not too hard to imagine a situation where someone deletes a whole bunch of important bookmarks and extensions, leaving you to set up the browser again.
In order to avoid this, you can enable guest mode in Google Chrome before handing your machine over to someone. This lets others use Google Chrome without messing around with your browser preferences. Here's how to enable it.

Windows and Mac
The steps to enable guest mode in Google Chrome are the same for Windows and Mac users.

1. Open Google Chrome.
2. On the top-right, you will see the name of the person whose Google account the browser is linked to. Click the name.
3. Click Switch person.
4. Click Browse as Guest.
5. This will open a new window where you won't be able to access any of your browser data. Guest mode is like incognito mode, which doesn't save browser history or cookies. The only difference is that you can't even access bookmarks or other preferences.

Unfortunately, the solution isn't as straightforward on Android or iOS. The method described below is a bit cumbersome but it's the best possible way to do this as of now.
iOS
Follow these steps on Google Chrome for iPhone and iPad.

1. Open Google Chrome.
2. Tap the three vertical dots on the top-right.
3. Tap Settings.
4. Your Google account name and email address will be right at the top. Tap it.
5. Tap Manage Accounts.
6. Tap Use Chrome without a Google account.
7. This will stop synchronising Chrome data on your iOS device with your Google account. Now on your iOS device, you can clear bookmarks or any other browser data you don't want others to change.
8. When the other person has returns your iOS device, you can quickly get back all your data by signing in to your Google account again. Just follow steps 1-5 and then select your Google account or tap Add another account and sign in.

Android

1. Open Google Chrome.
2. Tap the three vertical dots on the top-right.
3. Tap Settings.
4. Tap your Google account name and email address that appear right at the top.
5. Tap the blue button at the top to turn sync Off.
6. This will stop syncing your data with your Google account. Now you can clear any preferences on Google Chrome for Android without disturbing the carefully configured settings on other devices.
7. When you don't need guest mode anymore, you can quickly enable sync by following steps 1-4 and then tapping the button at the top to turn sync On.

For more tutorials, visit our How To section.

How to Download and Manually Install Android 5.1 Lollipop on Google Nexus 5, Nexus 7, and Nexus 10

Google on Monday began rolling out the first major update to its Android 5.0 Lollipop operating system. The update, Android 5.1 Lollipop, will be rolled out to various devices, with the Nexus series the first in line to get the latest version. The Nexus 5, Nexus 7 Wi-Fi and the Nexus 10 are the three devices that will get this update first as Google posted Android 5.1 Lollipop factory images for these devices on its website. If you can't wait for the OTA update to arrive, you can use these images to install Android 5.1 Lollipop on your device.
You can manually download and install the Android 5.1 Lollipop factory image from Google's website. This process is not recommended for anyone but the most advanced users who have a bit of technical know-how. This process will erase all your data, so make sure you back up your Android device first. If you understand the risks and own a Google Nexus 5, Nexus 7 Wi-Fi or a Nexus 10, you can use these steps to flash the latest version of Android Lollipop on to your device.
1. Download and install the latest Android SDK on your Windows computer. This installs two programs, ADB, and Fastboot, which can be accessed through the command terminal on your PC, as a part of the software development kit.
2. Add the SDK folder to the PATH by following these steps:

• Right click My Computer and click on Properties.
• Click on Advanced System Settings.
• Click on System Properties > Advanced > Environment Variables.
• In the window, select Path, then click on Edit, and then type in the name of the directory where you installed the SDK, and remember that each entry is separated by a semi-colon.

3. Enable USB debugging on your device. First, go to Settings > About Phone > Software information.
4. Tap Build number seven times.
5. Go to Settings > Developer options. Tick USB debugging.
6. Download the correct factory image for your device.
Android 5.1 Lollipop for Nexus 5
Android 5.1 Lollipop for Nexus 7 (Wi-Fi)
Android 5.1 Lollipop for Nexus 10
7. Extract the image on your computer.
8. Connect your device to your computer over USB.
9. Start the device in fastboot mode.
For Nexus 5, hold the volume up, volume down and power buttons while powering on the device. The full list of key combinations for different devices can be found here.
You can also boot into fastboot mode using the ADB tool: With the device powered on, go to the command terminal and execute the following: adb reboot bootloader
If needed, unlock the device's bootloader through your computer using the command terminal and executing: fastboot oem unlock

1. Open a command terminal and navigate to the unzipped system image directory.
2. Execute flash-all.bat, which was a part of the unzipped image file. This script installs the necessary bootloader, baseband firmware(s), and operating system. For this to work, you need to have added the folder where ADB and Fastboot are installed to the system's path as described in step 2.
3. When this is done, Google recommends that you lock the bootloader for security. You can do that by booting the device in fastboot mode while still connected via USB, and using the command terminal to execute: fastboot oem lock.

While this method will install Android 5.1 Lollipop on your Nexus device, we still suggest that you wait for the OTA update to ensure a hassle-free update process.
For more tutorials, head to our How To section.

Android 5.1 Lollipop Update Rollout Begins; Brings Device Protection and More

Google late on Monday finally announced the Android 5.1 Lollipop update, the first major update to Android Lollipop. The company in its blog announced that Android 5.1 brings stability and performance improvements.Google also introduced some new features such as support for multiple SIM cards, Device Protection and HD voice on compatible devices with the update. The multiple SIM support seems to be primarily targeted at Android One devices. Google last month released Android One smartphones in Indonesia running Android Lollipop build 5.1 out-of-the-box.
Another highlight is built-in Device Protection, which makes sure the device is locked when lost or stolen, until signed-in using a Google account. Interestingly, Device Protection once enabled requires a Google account sign-in even if someone resets the device to factory settings.
"This feature will be available on most Android phones and tablets shipped with Android 5.1 in addition to Motorola Google Nexus 6 and HTC Google Nexus 9," notes Dave Burke, VP, Android Platform.
The Android 5.1 Lollipop update also brings high definition voice calling on the mobile phone. The HD voice calling will be available only on compatible Android 5.1 devices. Google gives example of HD voice on the Nexus 6 via T-Mobile or Verizon. Other features include ability to join Wi-Fi networks and Bluetooth paired device option directly available from Quick Settings.
Soon after announcing the Android 5.1 update, Google started pushing Android 5.1 factory images for Nexus devices. At the time of writing, the company posted factory images for the Nexus 5, Nexus 7 2012, and Nexus 10. We can expect the company to release factory images of more Nexus devices in the coming days.
Google, apart from factory images, also started uploading source code to the Android Open Source Project (AOSP). First reported by Android Police, currently Google only posted the source code of Nexus 5, Nexus 6, and Nexus 9. The publication notes, "Branches with the name lollipop-mr1-release [maintenance release 1] are starting to appear under an assortment of different projects."

How to Stop Others From Accessing Your Android Apps

You hand over your phone to someone to make a call, or look up something on the Internet and the next thing you know, they're browsing through your messages. Most people know better than to be so rude, but we all know that one person who really doesn't understand why this is bad manners.

It's not like everyone has something to hide, but these days we all carry a virtual record of our lives in our pockets. Our smartphones have a lot of personal information we do not want other people to see.

One way to protect your privacy is to set a password lock on your phone. While that serves the purpose in most cases, it's no use when you pass your phone to someone for a quick call or if they want to check something. It's for times like these that a password lock for individual apps can come in handy. There are lots of apps for Android that let you do this, but Smart AppLock is our favourite.

This is how you can set up Smart AppLock to protect your apps from the curious friend:

1. Download Smart AppLock.
2. When you first fire up the app, it'll ask you to set the password. The default password is 7777, as you'll see in the password hint on screen. Tap those numbers in to open the app.
3. Now the App Lock tab will show up.
4. Tap the green + button at the bottom.
5. Select apps you want to lock down with a password. All you need to do is tap the checkmark next to each app that you want to protect.
6. Tap ADD.
7. Next to each app, you'll see a button labelled FAKE. Tap this button to enable a fake app crash message. Whenever you open that app, you will see a message like, "Unfortunately, WhatsApp has stopped." This will show the name of whichever app you have enabled the setting for. If someone sees the message and taps OK, Smart AppLock returns to the home screen. But if you tap and holdOK, you'll be asked to enter the app password.

That's it. Now all the apps you selected are hidden behind a password. But it's a good idea to change the default password and here's how you can do that:

1. Swipe left to the Settings tab.
2. Tap Password & Pattern Settings.
3. Tap Password and key a new numeric code.
4. Tap Password hint to replace the hint set by default.
5. You can also switch to a pattern lock, gesture lock or character password lock. Tap Lock Type to switch.

This will set a common password for all the apps you picked. If you want a different password for any of your apps, try these steps.

1. Open Smart AppLock and swipe left to the Settings tab.
2. Tap Multiple Passwords.
3. Tap Add Password.
4. Here you can select individual apps by tapping Locked Apps.
5. Tap the checkmark next to the apps you want to lock and tap Add.

We really liked Smart AppLock because it doesn't just protect your apps. It does this in a way that prevents any unauthorised user from knowing that something is up. This way, you can keep your stuff private, without getting into a fight with someone over it. Do you create password locks for individual apps? Let us know how via the comments. For more tutorials, visit our How To section

How to Backup Contacts on Your Smartphone

"I lost all of my contacts" is such a common complaint even in the age of smartphones that you have to sometimes wonder if people are faking it. But while it sounds silly and even unbelievable at times, the fact is that if you - or even your kid - accidentally hit the wrong buttons on the screen, you can accidentally deleting all your contacts.

If you've switched to a new phone, or lost your phone, or it stops working suddenly, you face the same problem. It has happened to almost all of us and it will continue to happen to others. The best you can do is ensure that all your contacts are backed up so that you can quickly get your life back on track. Here's how to do that on any smartphone.

iPhone

You can backup your iPhone contacts to iCloud or on your computer via iTunes. The iCloud method is simpler, but needs Internet access.

1. Go to Settings > iCloud.
2. The switch next to contacts should be in the green on position.

This single step will ensure that all your contacts are constantly backed up to iCloud. If you format your phone, just signing in to the iCloud account will restore all contacts.

If you don't have Internet access, you can still backup contacts via iTunes.

1. Download and install the latest version of iTunes.
2. Connect your iPhone to the computer via USB.
3. Open iTunes.
4. Tap the iPhone icon on the top-left, just below the menu bar.
5. Tap Info on the left sidebar.
6. Check Sync Contacts.
7. Select the service you'd like to sync contacts with from the drop-down menu. On a Windows machine, we were allowed to sync with Outlook or Windows Contacts. The latter takes a local backup on your Windows machine.
8. After selecting Windows Contacts, click Switch in the pop-up to start a backup.

This will backup your iPhone contacts to your computer. Windows Contacts isn't available on Windows 7, but you can install it via Windows Live Essentials. If you want to backup all that is there in your iPhone,

Android

If you have an Internet connection, follow these steps to backup your contacts on Android.

1. Go to Settings > Accounts > Google.
2. Tap the account name at the top.
3. Make sure there is a check mark for Contacts.

All your contacts will be backed up to your Google account continuously. Note that the exact names of menus can vary between different manufacturers and Android versions. If you don't have Internet access on your phone, follow these steps.

1. Open Contacts.
2. Tap the three vertical dots on the top-right.
3. Select Import/export.
4. Tap Export to storage.
5. A pop-up will tell you where your contacts will be exported. Tap OK.
6. Open the file manager app on your phone. If you don't have one, you can download ES File Explorer.
7. In the file manager, navigate to the folder where the contacts are stored. If you aren't sure, search for vcf and the contacts file will show up.

Copy this file and store it somewhere safe. If you ever want to get this set of contacts back then you'll need to use the import function in contacts, to import the data from this file.

(Also see: How to Backup Your Android Phone)

BlackBerry 10

1. Go to Settings > Accounts.
2. Tap Add Account from the bottom of the screen.
3. Tap Email, Calendar and Contacts.
4. Enter your Gmail address and tap Next.
5. Then enter your password and tap Sign in.
6. This will set up the account. Make sure that Sync Contacts is On.

This will back up all your BlackBerry 10 contacts to your Google account. If you format the phone and then add the same Gmail address again, it will automatically populate your contacts list with the backed up numbers.

(Also see: How to Backup Your BlackBerry 10 Smartphone)

Windows Phone

There's nothing special that you need to do to backup your contacts on Windows Phone. When you first set up the phone, you will have to sign in using a Microsoft account. From then on, all your contacts are automatically backed up to the Microsoft account.

(Also see: How to Backup Your Windows Phone)

How do you backup contacts on your smartphone? Let us know via the comments. For more tutorials, head to our How To section.

How to Make Calls, Send and Receive SMS From Your Computer Using an Android Phone

The launch of iOS 8 in September brought a number of very cool features, with Continuity perhaps topping the list of enhancements. It allows you to make and receive phone calls and send and receive text messages using your iPad or Mac, as long as they're connected to the same Wi-Fi network and Apple ID. This is quite handy if you're working on your Mac and don't want to switch back to the iPhone just to check a text or to receive a call.

(Also see: How to Make and Answer Calls, Send and Receive SMS From Your iPad, Mac)

If you're using a Mac and an iPhone that's a great feature to have, but Android users need not feel left out either. AirDroid gives Android users most of Continuity's features and allows some things that'll make Apple users jealous.

Continuity also has a feature called Handoff, which allows you to pick up where you left off with apps. Whether it's finishing an incomplete message on Mail or a document in Pages, these automatically sync across Apple devices with Handoff. Third-party apps such as Google Chrome also support this feature, but this is only available if developers choose to add it.

AirDroid doesn't have anything like Handoff and doesn't let you receive phone calls. It can mirror your Android device's screen to your computer if your phone is rooted. This feature is useful if you want to use your phone's apps on your PC. If your phone is not rooted, you only get notifications for text messages, phone calls, and from other system apps.

Airdroid 3 lets you send and receive text messages, make and reject calls, receive notifications and transfer files via your computer. You control the phone using a Web client, so you don't have to install any software, and can use the app simply by visiting a webpage on either your PC or Mac.

1. Download AirDroid on your Android phone.
2. Open the app on your Android phone.
3. The app will ask you to create an account, but it is not needed. Just tap the tinySign in later button at the bottom.
4. Now AirDroid will ask you for permission to show notifications on your computer in real time. Tap Enable.
5. This will take you to the system settings for access to notifications. Tap AirDroid Notification Mirror service.
6. A confirmation pop-up will appear. Tap OK.
7. Now hit the back button on your phone to return to AirDroid. The app will now display a URL - http://web.airdroid.com - on the phone.
8. Open the URL in any Web browser on your computer. You'll see a QR code in the browser window.
9. On AirDroid on your Android phone, tap the QR code image next to the URL. This will open the camera.
10. Point the camera at the QR code in the browser window on your computer. The Android app will vibrate when it has scanned the code.

That's it, now you can get all Android notifications in that browser window. It's quite similar to the way you connect WhatsApp Web to your phone. In the browser window you will see apps such as Screenshot, Camera, Music, Photos, Videos - all of these are self explanatory. You can access the phone's camera via the computer, take screenshots, view and transfer photos and videos and listen and transfer songs as well. AirDroid makes it very easy to manage your Android phone from your PC as you can also see recent calls by clicking on Call Logs and backup apk files by clicking on Apps.

There are some other simple things you can do using AirDroid such as sending text messages directly from your PC.

1. In the browser window, click on the Messages app.
2. All the text messages on your phone will show up here.
3. Click New Message on the top-right to compose a new text. Click Send to send it across.
4. When you receive any text messages, you'll get a notification in the browser. Click the notification to view the text. Alternatively, you can click the Messages app to view all incoming messages.

You can also initiate a call using AirDroid on your PC, but the call isn't shared with your computer. The PC is only useful as a phone dialer.

1. Click the phone icon at the top of the page, next to the search bar on web.airdroid.com.
2. Dial the number in the keypad. As you start typing the number, a list of contacts with similar numbers will show up on the right. So you can also click the contact you want to call.
3. Click the blue Call button. Now you will have to switch to your Android phone to speak to the person. This is an unfortunate limitation and we suggest that you use a Bluetooth headset paired with your phone as a workaround.
4. AirDroid doesn't let you receive calls via the computer either, but you can reject calls with a text message. When someone calls, you will see a pop-up in the browser window. Click Reject to disconnect the call or Reject with message to send a text message to the caller.

AirDroid is not perfect for Continuity like features, but it comes pretty close. If you use any other Android apps that let you make phone calls or send text messages via your computer, let us know via the comments. For more tutorials, head to our How To section.

How to Automatically Delete Old Text Messages on iPhone, Android

Is your smartphone taking too long to load the text messaging app? Has the text message app begun stuttering when you scroll up or down the list of messages? Is your phone's memory almost full and you need to get rid of some of that digital clutter? If your answer to these questions is yes, then you should consider automatically deleting text messages.

Most of us get far too many text messages to manually delete each one of them. On our first Nokia feature phones, we could only store 100-odd messages in most phones, so we kept a close eye on all incoming messages. Today though, storage restrictions have seemingly vanished and the messages began piling up in everyone's phones. That led to another set of problems - laggy messaging apps and storage woes. Reducing the clutter is actually pretty simple - you can set your phone to automatically delete old messages. This is how.

iPhone

On the iPhone, you can set the device to automatically delete all old messages. The only problem is that you can't make any exceptions - you can't change a setting that would allow all messages from a particular sender to stay even past the expiry date. If you want to save any information from a message, we suggest keeping a clipping in an app like Evernote. To set up automatically cleaning old messages, this is what you do:

1. Open Settings > Messages.
2. Scroll down to the section labelled MESSAGE HISTORY.
3. Tap Keep Messages.
4. Choose either 30 days or 1 Year. This will delete messages older than one month or one year.
   
   

   

Android

Android can be a little more complicated than the iPhone, simply because there are a lot of variants available. The version of Android, and the customisations your smartphone comes with, both play a part. However, Google's Hangouts app can now be your default messaging client, and it allows you to automatically delete old messages,

To use Hangouts as your SMS client - if you're not already - you need to do the following:

1. Open the default messaging app - Hangouts.
2. Tap the three horizontal lines icon on the top-left.
3. Tap Settings.
4. Tap SMS.
5. Tap SMS Disabled and then tap OK. This can take a few seconds to complete after you tap OK.
   

   

Now, to automatically delete messages from Hangouts:

1. Scroll down to the ADVANCED section.
2. Check Delete old messages. This will delete old text messages from your phone when the memory is low.
   
   

   

While that's useful, some Android manufacturers do allow you to save individual messages as well. This did not work with a Moto E, a Micromax Canvas 2 or a Gionee Elife E5, but did work with an LG G3, so your mileage may vary. Here, we used the manufacturer's SMS app. This is how you can save messages, and delete old messages:

1. Open the SMS app.
2. Tap the three dots button in the top right.
3. Go to Settings > Storage.
4. Tick "Delete old messages" and in the drop down menu below, set the limit on the number of messages each conversation can have.

If you want to save an old message from being auto deleted, long press the specific message in the conversation, and tap Copy to Saved box.

Unfortunately, this feature is not there on all phones by default, so you'll need to experiment with your device to see if you have this option. Automatic deletion of old messages is clearly useful, but it could also use a few advanced tweaks to make it even better, on both iOS and Android. If you use any other method to automatically delete old text messages, let us know via the comments. For more tutorials, visit our How To section.

How to Back Up Your Android Smartphone

If your phone crashes unexpectedly, or worse gets lost or stolen, then you'll not just be down the cost of a phone, but also a huge amount of data. To get around that, you need to enable cloud backups for as many things as possible, so that logging your account into a new handset transfers most of your data automatically. But not everything can be backed up that way, and that's why it's still important to take regular backups of your phone.

While some third-party apps like Titanium Backup and Helium will let you take a full backup your Android smartphone, they are not for everyone. Most users don't know about rooting their phones, or want to mess around with installing ADB drivers. No worry, it may take a few more steps, but you'll get there (almost).

Here's how to back up almost any Android smartphone.

Backing up to the cloud

1. On your phone, go to Settings > Accounts & sync.
2. Under ACCOUNTS, and tick mark "Auto-sync data". Next, tap on Google. Now, tap on the Gmail ID you used to sign onto the phone.
3. Here, you can turn on all the options so that all your Google related information gets synced to the cloud. This includes your contacts, photos (uploaded to Google+, privately if you want), app data, calendar events, Chrome tabs, your Google Fit data and more.
4. Now go to Settings > Backup & Reset.
5. Check Back up my data.

This will save app data and all of your phone's settings including Wi-Fi passwords to your Google account. When you sign in using this Google account on another phone, all of your preferences, photos (via Google+), and contacts will be imported automatically. This data is synced regularly and you just need to log into another device with the same account to recover it. This does not cover your text messages and various other types of data - you'll have to back them up yourself.

Locally back up media, messages and apps
Next, you'll want to save the music, movies and other media you've saved on your phone's memory card. This process is easy - just connect your phone to a PC and copy everything that's in the microSD card. This is a manual process so you'll need to make a routine of doing this.

Media

1. Connect your phone to the computer with a USB cable. If you are on a Mac, make sure you have the Android File Transfer application installed before you do this.
2. Open My Computer on your PC, or Finder on your Mac.
3. Navigate to the SD card and copy all the files you want to save to your computer.
4. After the copying is done, you can unplug your phone.

Text Messages

You can easily save all your text messages and call logs to your Gmail account by using an app called SMS Backup+. Try these steps:

1. Download SMS Backup+.
2. Open the app and tap Connect.
3. Pick your Gmail account from the pop-up.
4. Now grant SMS Backup+ permission to access your Google account.
5. Now go back to the app and tap Backup. This will save all your text messages to your Gmail account.
6. Log in to Gmail from any Web browser and on the left side you'll see a new label -SMS. Click it to view all the text messages that have been backed up.
7. To restore these messages, just tap Restore in SMS Backup+.
8. Tap OK in the pop-up.
9. You'll be asked to set SMS Backup+ as your default SMS app. Tap Yes. This is needed to restore messages.
10. Now the app will automatically restore all your messages and call logs. Once the process is complete, the app will show a pop-up that restores your default SMS app. Tap Yes.

Apps
The next step is to back up and restore installed apps. You can re-download apps easily if you're using the same Google account on the new device - just open Google Play, tap the hamburger icon (three horizontal lines) on the top-left > My apps. You can install all previously purchased apps from there.

On the other hand, a local backup could be faster to restore, and wouldn't waste bandwidth either. And it's also pretty easy to do.

1. Download ES File Explorer.
2. Swipe the screen to the right to reveal the Homepage of ES File Explorer.
3. Tap APP which is under a blue Android robot icon on the top-right.
4. Tap and hold any app until you see a checkmark on its icon.
5. Now tap the tick-mark icon on the top-right, the one inside a box with a dotted frame. This will select all apps.
6. Tap Backup that's on the bottom row. This will save a copy of the apk files of all your apps.
7. To view which apk files have been saved, tap User apps at the top. From the pop-up, select Backed-up Apps.
8. Tap any app's apk file here to install that app without Internet.
9. To save a copy of these files to your computer, connect your Android phone to a PC via USB.
10. The phone will appear in My Computer like a pendrive. Open it.
11. Go to Internal Storage > backups > apps.
12. Copy all the apk files here. In case you format your device, or change handsets, you can quickly copy these apk files to it and install the apps again by placing them in the same folder on your phone, and then following steps 7 and 8.

By following these steps, you're able to save a copy of all your contacts, text messages, media, apps, Wi-Fi passwords, and your app data. Of course, doing everything one by one is a little cumbersome, and the best way to back up your phone is to use a third party backup tool. We've used Titanium Backup and it is excellent but it requires root access on your Android phone, which is something typically expected from more advanced users. Even its interface is too clunky for most average people.

Helium is a great app for those who haven't rooted their phones. It has a nice interface too, but it only works with select Android phones from some international manufacturers. If you bought a phone from Micromax, Karbonn, Lava or countless other brands, you won't be able to use Helium. Further, using Helium requires you to install drivers for the phone on your computer as well.

How do you back up your Android phone? Let us know via the comments. For more tutorials, visit our How To section.