PC World - USA (2019-02)

120 PCWorld FEBRUARY 2019

HERE’S HOW UNLOCK AND ENABLE DEVELOPER OPTIONS

FIND YOUR ANDROID

BUILD NUMBER

Before you can enable Developer

options on your Android phone or

tablet, you’ll first need to find your

phone’s build number. On most

phones, you type build number

into the search field, but here’s how

to find it on a few popular devices:

Google Pixel: Settings > System

> About Phone > Build Number

Samsung Galaxy S8 and later:

Settings > About Phone > Software

Information > Build Number

LG G6 and later: Settings > About

Phone > Software Info > Build Number

HTC U11 and later: Settings > About >

Software Information > More > Build Number

OnePlus 5T and later: Settings > About

Phone > Build Number

REVEAL DEVELOPER

OPTIONS

Once you’ve found the screen with your

Build number, you’ll need to tap on it seven

times. That’s right: seven times. After a few

taps, you’ll see a small pop-up alert telling

you that “You are now X steps away from

being a developer” with a number that

counts down with every additional tap.

After the seventh tap, a message will

appear telling you that “You are now a

developer!” and the Developer options will

be unlocked as an option in Settings. Some

phones will include a general message

about tinkering with your Android phone,

but you can simply tap OK. While many of

the options are strictly for developers,

including things like USB debugging and

bootloader unlocking, you’ll also find things

such as high-fi audio codecs, notch options,

and CPU usage among the toggles.

Experiment at your own risk.

TURN OFF DEVELOPER

OPTIONS

While Google used to require a factory reset

to rid your phone of Developer options, it’s

easier to jettison now. In most Android

phones running Nougat and later, you’ll see

an on/off toggle at the top of the screen,

which will let you switch off Developer

options. The screen will gray out, and once

you leave, it’ll be gone from your phone. To

get it back, follow these steps again.

The Build number on your Android phone is in a different

place on every phone, but it’s easy enough to find.