It’s a regular joke in the tech biz these days, but it’s true — often, we forget that our smartphones are supposed to make phone calls. It’s easier to shoot someone an email or a text message, and phones serve a million other purposes, from games and fitness tracking to social media and recording rides. The way Apple’s marketing goes, you’d think most Hollywood movies were shot using iPhones.
If you actually do want to use your Android phone for its nominal purpose, there are a number of settings you can change to get the most out of it. Note that these are just the tweaks I prefer when I get to daily an Android device. It may be worth exploring settings on your own, simply using the suggestions below as a starting point. I’ll add that not every Android phone is going to share the same menu labels, or even the same options in some cases, so I’m not going to delve (too) deep into instructions.
Enabling Call Screen
The best is reserved for the Google faithful
One of best features of iOS 26 is optional call screening, but as with a number of iPhone features, it appeared on Android devices first. This lets you prompt a caller to explain who they are and why they’re calling before you answer — if you answer at all. Alternately, you can reply with canned or AI-generated responses, the latter tailored to what the caller actually said during the screening process.
There are a few limitations. Non-Google Android devices only support manual screening at most, triggered by tapping Screen call when your phone rings. And even then, manual control is only available in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Spain, the UK, and the US. If you don’t see the option appear at all, try opening the Phone app and going to More -> Settings -> Spam and Call Screen/Call Screen.
If you own a Pixel device and live in the US, you can turn on automatic screening by going to the same menu. One advantage of this (assuming you have a Pixel 7 or later) is that you can choose varying degrees of protection. All levels will block known spam — but you can limit screening to “suspicious” (potentially faked) numbers if you don’t want to interrogate every number that isn’t in your contact list. I’d recommend full screening if you’re regularly bombarded by spam. The partial option may be useful if you’re expecting calls from new numbers, like clients or job recruiters.
Turning on Caller ID announcements
Exercise caution
If there’s anything on this list that’s bound to upset you, it’s probably this one, and I understand why. It can be annoying enough when a phone rings in public, let alone the idea of a synthetic voice proclaiming the name or number. And if you’re the person who owns the device, you may not want your private life revealed out loud, or blasted in your ear.
I use my phone under very particular circumstances, however. If I’m not alone in my home office, I’m most likely in my car, at the gym, or riding my EUC. Having calls announced is not only fine, but sometimes essential — I can’t exactly check my screen when I’m under a loaded barbell or carving down a bike path.
You can adjust this feature in the Phone app by going to More -> Settings -> Caller ID announcement -> Announce caller ID. Most people should probably choose Only when using a headset, which can save you trouble when you’re preoccupied the way I am, but without telling everyone your personal business. The other options are Always and Never.
Disabling Call Bubbles
Useful but distracting
When Android first gained messaging bubbles many years ago, I was happy, mostly because it promised easier multitasking at a time when that was lacking in the OS. But the more I used it, the more irritated I became, because those bubbles were getting in the way of interface elements in other apps. I didn’t need a reminder that I had an ongoing conversation, and Android’s current multitasking interface makes it simple enough to switch apps.
When it comes to the official Phone app, bubbles are on by default. They do have their value — apart from making it easier to resume a call, you can mute it, put it on speakerphone, or hang up without having to go anywhere. But if you’re experiencing the same frustrations as me, follow these steps:
- Tap and hold the Phone app icon.
- Tap Info (i).
- Select Advanced -> Display over other apps.
- Finally, toggle Allow display over other apps.
Activating Flip to Slience/Flip to Shhh
Another edge for Pixel owners
This setting is one I’m rarely in a position to use, since my phone is often in my pocket or sitting on a stand, but it’s nice to have the option. As its name suggests, this lets you flip your phone over to mute an incoming call. Hardware and software buttons can accomplish the same thing, but flipping is occasionally easier, say if a call wakes you up at 6AM and you want nothing more than to go back to sleep.
On Pixel devices from the Pixel 2 onwards, Flip to Shhh is on by default. All you have to do is make sure that your phone is screen-up on a flat surface, then flip it upside-down when the time comes. That “flat” part is important — the option relies on your phone’s motion sensors, so it might not work properly if your phone is resting on something uneven like a couch cushion.
Without a Pixel in hand, you may still have access to Flip to Silence. It’s functionally similar — you’ll just have to navigate to Settings -> Advanced -> Flip to silence in the Phone app. If you can’t find the option, it might be worth exploring other menus, but there is the possibility that your phone isn’t compatible.
A little counter-intuitive
Okay, you’ve got me on a technicality — you can’t actually set custom ringtones via the Phone app. But that’s one of the most important things for me on any device, since if I hear my wife’s tone, I know to pick up immediately. If it’s a generic ringtone, I should probably check the incoming number first, since most of the calls I get are spam.
So how do you set a ringtone for individual contacts? Typically, this is the process:
- Download or copy the audio file you want to use to the Files app.
- Open the Google Contacts app.
- Select the Fix & manage tab at the bottom.
- Under Other tools, choose Contact ringtones.
- Tap Add contact ringtone.
- Pick a contact, then the ringtone you want to use.
- Repeat steps 5 and 6 for as many custom tones as you want to use.
The big catch to this is that while contacts sync between devices using the same Google Account, ringtones don’t. You can put your favorite files in Google Drive, but you’ll have to reassign them to each contact once you set up a new phone.
