Android Police

Guides about Google

Readers like you help support Android Police. When you make a purchase using links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Read More.

latest

A person using Google Takeout on a MacBook Pro 1
What is Google Takeout?

Google's own export tool gives you easy access to all of your data

4
4
By  and

Google tracks and collects a ton of data about us. The software giant tracks our search history, health data, YouTube activities, payment methods, favorite books, emails, location, and even the top smart home devices connected to our Google account. We also store some of our data in Google Drive, Photos, Keep, Reminders, or Gmail. Google Takeout is an export tool that allows you to download your data for local storage or transfer it to another service.

A person looks at a potted plant through their smartphone camera's viewfinder. 1
How to turn off motion photo on your Android phone

Don't like moving images? You can disable them on your phone

4
By 

Android phones can now give DSLRs a run for their money with their camera performance. While the image quality of the best camera phones is nowhere near a dedicated camera, they make up for it with some handy features. Being able to take motion photos is one such feature, which brings your photos to life by recording a short video clip before and after the shutter button is pressed. But maybe you want to click regular photos from your phone, and motion photos irritate you? The feature can be turned off if you're not a fan of it. Follow this guide to learn how.

An Android phone on a wooden table with the Google Voice app open being set up for the first time 1
What is Google Voice?

Google Voice is a streamlined VoIP service for personal or business use. Here's everything you should know

4
By 

Do you need an additional phone number in your life? Google Voice has you covered. This service is easy to sign up for, frequently free, and has few strings attached. Here's everything you need to know.

Nothing Phone 2 showing the homescreen 1
How to use Android's Reading mode

Save your eyes and cut down on distractions by using Reading mode

4
By 

The best Android tablets and phones are great for consuming long-form content, reviewing big documents, and reading e-books. But reading content on the internet is not a pleasant experience as before, with ads, menus, and dialog boxes popping up. This makes life even more difficult if you have poor vision, as the design of some websites can put unwanted strain on your eyes.

Google Pixel 7a vs. Pixel 6a 1
How to disable biometrics from your home screen

Use Android's Lockdown mode to quickly deactivate biometrics and hide notifications from the lock screen

4
By 

Face and fingerprint biometric authentication has become a standard feature on all devices, even on our favorite budget Android phones. They introduce an additional layer of security without adding extra steps when accessing your device. After all, unlocking your phone by looking at it or scanning your fingerprint is more convenient. But there are instances where you want additional security and need to turn off biometric unlock on your phone quickly. Instead of fiddling with the settings menu, take advantage of Lockdown mode in Android to achieve this and bolster your phone's security.

The google logo against a gray background 1
How to permanently delete your Google accounts and data

Saying goodbye to Google? Delete Google forever without losing any data

4
4
By  and

Deleting your Google account might seem impossible, especially if you're entrenched in its ecosystem. However, if you decide to leave Google behind, the process is simple and easy to follow. Kudos to Google for allowing users to remove themselves from its services. You can either delete your entire Google account in one go or delete specific Google services like Gmail and Google Drive and then move away from its other services. Whether you use an Android, iPhone, Windows, Mac, or a top Chromebook, vanishing from Google servers doesn't take more than a few minutes.

A brightly colored Google logo on top of the Android Police logo 1
Google Career Certificates: Courses, certification paths, pricing, and more

Advance your tech job qualifications without a degree

4
By 

Tech is an ever-evolving sector, and there continues to be more and more jobs available. You could get a college degree in a relevant field or obtain a Google Career Certificate. These certificates provide you with the skills you need to earn a job in several high-demand areas, such as data analytics, IT support, and project management. These certificates are accessible online on any device, such as the best Chromebooks, and don't have any prerequisites to enroll, such as a college degree or relevant experience. This article takes a closer look at the Google Career Certificate program, associated costs, and common questions prospective students may have.

A smartphone showing the main menu on Google Authenticator 1
How to transfer your Google Authenticator to a new phone

The process has never been smoother

4
By 

While two-factor authentication (2FA) via text messages (SMS) is still widely used, 2FA apps have become the bread and butter of online security, making it difficult for hackers to access your web accounts. Google Authenticator and Authy are two of the popular options currently available. However, a major turn-off from Google's solution was how the codes were stored on your device. Since they were encrypted using a key that's specific to that particular phone, you couldn't access the codes anywhere else.

Variations of the Google Chrome icon appear on parallel but vertical blue lines. 1
How to recover your Google account

Whether you forgot your password or email address, it shouldn't take too long to recover your Google account

4
By 

If you get locked out of your Google account, you must recover it as soon as possible. Thanks to single sign-on (SSO), getting locked out may mean you won't be able to access a variety of digital services and tools. Still, it's possible to recover your account, and we're here to walk you through the entire process. Whether you use your Google account to exclusively check your email or sync your phone with your premium smartwatch, you can follow this guide.

An illustration with multiple Google product logos and the text  1
How to access and use Google's 'My Activity' feature

You can quickly manage your data and search activity preferences

4
4
By  and

As a data-driven company, Google relies on some of the data from its users to help it build better products and services for the future. The information it gathers could be anything from your unique advertising ID to your web searches or interactions across its platforms. Even the best 5G phones on the market are tracked this way since they're powered by the official Google Play Services. To create a custom-made experience, you'll need to give up some of your data to make it work correctly.

An illustration of the Google logo centered against a blue background with various Bard gems in the periphery.  1
Google Bard explained: What this AI-powered ChatGPT competitor can do

Google Search may never be the same

4
By 

There's been a lot of chatter around artificial intelligence lately, particularly after OpenAI debuted its revolutionary ChatGPT service that Microsoft is now looking to integrate into Office 365 and Bing search. Meanwhile, Google has been a self-professed "AI-first" company since announcing a shift in focus at I/O 2017, and more recently, it unveiled a new AI-powered chatbot called Bard. But in a sea of buzzwords and initialisms, it can be hard to wrap your head around what these new tools do.

An illustration of a green globe with multiple chat bubbles in various languages. 1
How to use Google's Live Translate on the Google Pixel 6

Converse in other languages with ease with your Pixel 6

4
By 

The Google Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro phones have shipped with several useful improvements, including the Live Translate feature, and it's a fantastic addition to Google's suite of translation features. Live Translate is exclusive to recent Pixel devices, including the fantastic Pixel 7 Pro. It goes above and beyond Google Translate's functionality, adding useful translation features that help with real-time translation.

blue green and pink beaker on white background with green wavy line 1
What is Google Search Labs?

Experiment with Google's upcoming Search features

4
By 

Among the many AI products shown off at Google I/O 2023, the changes to Google Search promise to be the most exciting for our everyday lives. While these changes aren't live, you can test them in Google Search Labs.

A Google Search page is open on an Android phone, iPhone, and Chrome browser. 1
How to make Google your default search engine on any browser

How to set Google Search as the default search engine in Chrome, Safari, Firefox, Edge, and Opera browsers on Windows, Mac, Android, and iPhone

4
By 

Almost everyone agrees that Google Search is the best way to find information online. Whether you're looking for the best Android phone, how to travel with a minimal carbon footprint, or wondering what something looked like in the past, Google is your friend. For many years, Google has reigned as the most popular search engine with the most reliable results. Despite Bing's recent gains after adding an AI chat feature, Google Search is still the undisputed leader.

The words 'Machine Learning' appear above the image of a robot 1
What is Google ML Kit?

On-device machine learning can make smartphones even better

4
By 

You may have heard a lot about artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) in recent years as the demand for each continues to rise. These two terms in the technology world have been tossed around for one specific reason: They take our device hardware beyond its physical limitations. For example, the best Android phones rely on an AI or ML model to achieve even more impressive photos from the camera. This guide discusses Google ML Kit and how it uses efficient on-device processing to improve our smartphone experience.

A white laptop sits on a white table. The Google Advanced Protection Program logo is on the laptop's display 1
What is the Google Advanced Protection Program?

A service that will boost your online security

4
By 

Digital threats have become increasingly clever, and even the most tech-savvy people can be caught off guard. The number and variety of cyberattacks have also increased dramatically. If you've been putting off a security checkup, it's time to take action.

Google logo on top of the Android Police logo 1
What is the Google Common Knowledge Project?

An easy way to find reliable and trustworthy local community data

4
By 

Many of us visit the Google search engine daily to find answers to our questions and gather information for independent research. And in a world powered by mobile devices, the best Android phones allow us to access this vast knowledge database anytime we need it. In our quest to find the relevant information we seek, we often visit multiple websites and decide just how accurate their claims are. Worse yet, finding specific data points on a hard-to-research topic can take time and effort, often not giving you the results you were likely hoping for.

The Google Colab logo against an orange, purple, and red background. 1
How to save Google Colab notebooks to GitHub

Connecting Google Colab with GitHub couldn't be easier

4
By 

If you write and execute Python code for software projects in Google Colab, you probably use the online software development platform GitHub. GitHub is one of the most popular developer tools for storing and managing code, tracking bugs, and working with code branching. It enables development teams to work on different areas of a project without impacting other areas.

Google Chrome logo against an orange and yellow background 1
How to change your Google background

Beautify Google with custom backgrounds and themes

4
By 

Google Chrome's new tab page is minimalist and functional, but it's not fun. However, Chrome gives you several ways to customize your Google background. You can change the entire look of the browser using Google Chrome themes, spice up the new tab page with fresh new looks, and even upload your images to use as a background. If you are tired of staring at an empty white homepage in your Google Chrome browser, use these methods to change your Google background.

What is Google Colab Hero 1
What is Google Colab?

Google's online tool for experimenting with AI and machine learning

4
By 

Google Colaboratory, or "Colab" as most people call it, is a cloud-based Jupyter notebook environment. It runs in your web browser (you can even run it on your favorite Chromebook) and lets anyone with internet access experiment with machine learning and coding for artificial intelligence. You can write and execute Python code, share your code and edit it simultaneously with other team members, and document everything by combining it into a single notebook with rich text, charts, images, HTML, and LaTeX.

See more articles +