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14 First things every LG V30 owner should do

Joe FedewaBy
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After a long wait, the LG V30 is finally available for purchase. We’ve already shared our first impressions, battery life in the first 24 hours, and sample photos from the LG V30. Now it’s time to get started with some tips. LG packed in a bunch of great features, some of which are exclusive to the V30. Here are the very first things you should do.

Set up the fingerprint scanner

The V30 follows in LG’s tradition of putting the power button and fingerprint scanner on the back. It can be used for a few things, such as Android Pay and Google Play Store purchases, but the most common use is unlocking the phone. LG’s fingerprint scanners are really fast and accurate. You should use it.

  1. Go to Settings > Fingerprints & security
  2. Tap on Fingerprints (confirm your password)
  3. Select Add fingerprint
  4. Scan your fingerprint

Read More: How to find a lost or stolen phone

Unlock the phone with your face

Unlocking phones with your face is all the rage these days and the V30 can do it too. LG’s “Face Print” is one of the best face unlocking implementations I’ve used. It can work along with the fingerprint scanner (you don’t have to pick just one). You should check it out and give it a try.

  1. Go to Settings > Lock screen
  2. Select Face Recognition
  3. Tap NEXT
  4. Tap START and follow instructions
  5. Tap OK when done

Customize the Floating Bar

LG replaced the Second Screen with a new feature called “Floating Bar.” It has essentially the same features of the Second Screen, but it’s a widget that floats on your screen. You can drag it around wherever you want, but it’s always just a tap away.

  1. Go to Settings > Floating Bar
  2. Toggle it on
  3. Toggle on the items you want in the bar
  4. Tap Shortcuts and Quick contacts to customize

For more, discuss Floating Bar at the LG V30 forum

Get the App Drawer back

The stock LG home screen doesn’t have an app drawer. All of your apps will be on the home screen just like how it is on the iPhone. If you use a 3rd-party launcher, this isn’t a problem, but if you use the stock launcher you might want the app drawer. Thankfully, LG has a way to get the drawer back.

  1. Go to Settings > Home screen
  2. Tap Select Home
  3. Choose Home & app drawer

For more, discuss App Drawer Settings & Options at the LG V30 forum

Delete unwanted apps

Bloatware and unwanted apps are present on almost every Android phone. It can be really annoying to have a bunch of apps you’ll never open. The good news is we can uninstall, or at least disable, most of the bloatware. There are two methods to remove apps.

  1. Go to Settings > Apps
  2. Locate the appropriate app
    1. Note: For system apps, tap the Menu icon > Show system
  3. Tap UNINSTALL
  4. Tap OK to confirm

OR

  1. Open the app drawer
  2. Tap the Menu icon
  3. Select Arrange apps
  4. Tap the (X) icon on an app to remove

For more, discuss deleting apps at the LG V30 forum

Customize the navigation bar

The V30 has software navigation buttons on the bottom of the screen. One of the great things about software buttons is the ability to customize the look. You can rearrange the existing buttons, change the color, and add up to two extra buttons.

  1. Go to Settings > Display > Home touch buttons
  2. Select Button combination
  3. You can drag and drop the buttons in any order you like, but there can’t be more than 5 in the bar
  4. Changes will show up in the navigation bar immediately
  5. You can choose the color of the buttons on the previous page

Get rid of the “Rounded Square” icons

Not only does the stock home screen lack an app drawer by default, but LG also put weird “rounded square” silhouettes around all the icons. It’s kinda ugly, but the good news is you can turn it off and go back to the stock icons. Here’s how to do it:

  1. Go to Settings > Home screen
  2. Select Icon Shape
  3. Choose Original
  4. Tap OK

For more, discuss the round icons at the LG V30 forum

Change up the look with a new theme

The default V30 theme is bright white and clean. It’s a nice look, but you might prefer a dark theme or something completely different. The good news is you can choose from a few pre-installed themes and even download themes directly from the Play Store. Here’s how to do it.

  1. Go to Settings > Theme
  2. Select one of the preloaded themes
  3. Tap APPLY

Themes installed from the Play Store will show up in the same place. Here’s an example of a theme you can download from the Play Store.

For more, discuss Themes at the LG V30 forum

Enable the Always-on Display

The V30 has an OLED display and an Always-on feature. It works a lot like the Always-on display on the Samsung phones. You can see the time, date, and notifications while the display is turned off. SInce the display is OLED, it doesn’t use up very much battery.

  1. Go to Settings > Display
  2. Tap Always-on display
  3. Toggle the switch to ON
  4. Select Set what to show to choose how it looks

Adjust how apps look on the 18:9 display

The V30’s display is taller than most phones. It has an 18:9 aspect ration, whereas most devices have 16:9 displays. All that means is you get some extra vertical space for apps. By default, most apps run completely fine on the tall display. Where you may run into some issues is with fullscreen apps, such as games. You can adjust the scale.

  1. In a fullscreen app, swipe up from the bottom to reveal the nav buttons
  2. Tap the App Scaling button
  3. You’ll have three options:
    1. Compatibility (16:9)
    2. Standard (16.7:9) (default)
    3. Fullscreen (18:9)
  4. If the app is misbehaving, put it in compatibility mode.

You can also adjust App Scaling in the Settings.

  1. Go to Settings > Display
  2. Select App scaling
  3. Tap the app you want to adjust
  4. Choose one of the options

For more, discuss App Scaling at the LG V30 forum

Take advantage of the SD card slot

The V30 is proof that some flagship phones still come with microSD card slots. LG has been sticking with MicroSD cards for a while. You can easily upgrade your storage capacity without buying any cloud storage subscriptions and relying on a data connection. Check out these great cards.

Crank up the speed with faster animations

The V30 has the speedy Snapdragon 835 processor and it feels great. You can still speed things up even more by increasing the speed of the animations. But you’ll first need to activate the hidden Developer Options by following these steps:

  1. Go to Settings > About phone
  2. Select Software info
  3. Tap Build Number 7 times until you see “You are now a developer” message
  4. Go back to the main settings and you’ll see Developer options

To speed up animations:

  1. Go to Settings > Developer options
  2. Scroll down select Window animation and choose .5x
  3. Select Transition animation and choose .5x
  4. Select Animator duration scale and choose .5x

Find the best Android apps & games

The best phone in the world is pretty boring if you don’t have great apps and games to use. We’ve compiled tons of helpful guides for finding the best apps and games in the Play Store. Before you dive in and rummage around, you’ll want to check out these lists first.

Download the Forums for Android app!

This list is a great starting point for V30 users, but there’s a lot more you should know. You can download the Forums forAndroid app and you’ll automatically join the V30 forum. There you will find more helpful tips and other users like you. It’s easy to ask for help and get answers. Here are a few threads to get you started:

Joe Fedewa
Ever since I flipped open my first phone I've been obsessed with the devices. I've dabbled in other platforms, but Android is where I feel most at home.

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