Got Android 14? Try these 10 features now!

Android 14 is officially out and is now making its way to a number of devices. And unlike some updates in recent times, it comes not only with subtle refinements and fixes but also a number of new features, letting you do more with your Android device.

So, if you have a device running Android 14 (check in your device’s settings if an update to Android 14 is available), here are some features that we think you need to try out:

Top 10 Android 14 Features

Say cheese, you are on my lock screen

Google has added a lot of customization options to the lock screen in Android 14. Let’s start with looks. Now, you get a whole selection of wallpapers, templates, and themes.

How to do this:

1. Long press on the homescreen
2. In the options that come up, choose Wallpaper and style
3. Choose the Lock screen tab
4. Choose the color combinations and wallpapers (they appear right at the beginning)

Shortcuts? On the lock screen NOW!

Android 14 has really empowered the lock screen. You can not just tweak the looks and appearance of the lockscreen but also add app shortcuts to it, enabling you to access the apps without having to unlock the display. In the past, the only app shortcuts on the lockscreen were Google Home and Google Wallet. Android 14 changes that and gives you way more options, including a camera, torch, and even a QR code scanner.

How to do this:

1. Long press on the homescreen
2. In the window that pops up, choose Wallpaper and style
3. Choose the Lock screen tab
4. Scroll to reach the Shortcuts option and choose the ones you want.

Expand your text horizons; enlarge those fonts

Android has had the option to allow you to increase the font size for a while, but Android 14 takes it to another level, letting you increase font size by a massive 200 percent as compared to 130 percent (on Pixels) in the past. You can also make the font bold if you wish. The best part is that thanks to what Google calls ‘non-linear font scaling,’ the size of text that is large enough will not increase. So, while the size of the fonts in the body copy might increase, the size of the headlines will stay the same.

How to do this:

1. Go to Settings
2. Choose Display
3. Choose Display Size and Text
4. Go to Font size and move the slider as per your needs

Get notification flashes back

About a decade ago, it was rare to see a phone without a notification flash – a tiny light whose blinking used to indicate that you had mail, messages, or a new notification to see. Modern phone design has done away with it, but Android 14 brings back the flavor of the notification flash by making the camera flash or the display flash whenever you have a notification.

How to do this:

1. Go to Settings
2. Choose Accessibility
3. Scroll down and choose Flash notifications
4. Switch on Camera flash, Screen flash, or both!

Sneak peekers? They cannot peek into your PIN

One of the coolest new features of Android 14 is that you can make even onscreen animations disappear when you are typing your PIN to unlock your phone, making it very difficult for any peeping toms to figure out your password.

How to do this:

1. Go to Settings
2. Choose Security and privacy
3. Select Device unlock
4. Hit the Gear wheel icon in front of the Screen lock
5. Switch on Enhance PIN privacy to disable animations while entering the PIN

Sometimes, it’s OK not to have an OK button

You can also remove the need to hit the OK or enter button after entering your PIN. The phone will simply unlock when you have entered the PIN, provided it is six digits or more. If your PIN is six or more digits, the feature has been switched on automatically.

How to do this:

1. Go to Settings
2. Choose Security and privacy
3. Select Device unlock
4. Hit the Gear wheel icon in front of the Screen lock
5. Switch on the Auto-confirm unlock option. Your phone will now unlock automatically if you enter a correct PIN that is six digits or more.

Photos and videos? Access is restricted

Android 14 adds a further layer of privacy to photos and images by letting you specify which images and videos can be accessed by different apps. In the past, we simply had the option to allow apps to access or not access our images and videos – they got access to everything or nothing. Android 14 changes that and lets you specify exactly which images and videos can be accessed by each app.

How to do this:

1. Go to Settings
2. Head to Security and privacy
3. Scroll down and choose Privacy
4. Now select Permission manager
5. Scroll until you reach Photos and videos
6. You will now see a list of apps that can access Photos and videos and which cannot
7. Choose the apps to which you want to give access to your photos and videos, and in the Photos and Videos permission window that comes up, select ‘Ask every time.’ Now, the app will ask for permission to access photos and images whenever you open it, and you can specify which ones it can access.

Related Read: MIUI 14: Seven New Features Worth Checking Out

Sorry, colors, we wanna go monochrome

If you find all the colors on your phone a little distracting, you can get rid of some of them using the monochrome theme that is now included in Android 14. At the time of writing, the theme only added the monochrome effect to Google’s own apps and a few others, but we expect this list to grow.

How to do this:

1. Long press on an empty space on the home screen (aha! No need to go to the Settings)
2. Choose Wallpaper and style
3. Tap on the three dots next to the material theme examples below the sample home screen.
4. You will now be in the System Colors section, with color options shown in the form of circles under two tabs – Wallpaper colors and Other colors.
5. In both tabs, choose the circle, which is divided into black, grey, and white colors. That’s it.

Make the back button give you a preview of the browsing past!

The back arrow in Android 14 looks a little different and now comes within a bubble. However, if you go into Developer Options, you can actually make it give you a preview of the page it will take you back to. This is called the predictive back animation figure, and while it is not supported in all apps at the moment (Google News supports it), it is a very handy feature as you can get a quick preview of where the back button will take you without having actually to go back. It’s super handy for those who surf a lot and often forget where they are.

How to do this:

You need to activate the Developer Mode to access this feature.

1. Go to Settings, and then to About phone
2. In About phone, scroll down to Build number (generally at the very end of items)
3. Tap the Build number seven times (yes!). You will be asked to enter the device PIN, and once you have done so, you will see a message saying, “You are now a developer.” Congratulations.
4. Go back to Settings, and this time head to System
5. In System, choose Developer Options
6. Now scroll all the way until you see Predictive back animations and switch it on. You just gave your phone’s back button special powers!

Crack that easter egg and do some space travel

Yes, Android 14 has a special hidden feature or an ‘Easter Egg.’ This one is all about controlling a ship in outer space. It is not too intense or graphics-rich but is cute enough to while away a few minutes.

How to get it:

1. Go to Settings
2. Open About Phone
3. Tap on the Android Version
4. In the larger Android version screen that comes, repeatedly tap on the Android version (which has ’14’ written under it)
5. An Android 14 logo floating in space will appear on the display
6. Long press on the Android 14 logo. Bon voyage.