To customize your Google Pixel 9a using Developer Options, follow these steps:
Enabling Developer Options
1. Open Settings: Start by opening the Settings app on your Pixel 9a.
2. Navigate to About Phone: Scroll down to the bottom of the Settings menu and select "About phone."
3. Find Build Number: Scroll down again until you see the "Build number." It's usually at the very bottom.
4. Tap Build Number Seven Times: Tap the "Build number" seven times. After the seventh tap, you will see a message saying "You are now a developer!"
5. Enter Screen Lock: If prompted, enter your PIN, pattern, or fingerprint to confirm.
6. Access Developer Options: Go back to the main Settings menu, then navigate to "System" and scroll down. You should now see "Developer options" listed.
Customizing with Developer Options
Once you have enabled Developer Options, you can access a variety of settings to customize your device:
- Animation Scale: You can speed up animations by adjusting the animation scale. Go to "Developer options" and scroll down to the "Drawing" section. Here, you can adjust the "Window animation scale," "Transition animation scale," and "Animator duration scale" to make your device feel faster. For example, setting these to 0.5x will make animations twice as fast[6].
- USB Debugging: This feature allows your device to communicate with your computer for development purposes. In "Developer options," scroll down and toggle on "USB debugging." This is essential for using Android Studio or other development tools with your device[10][11].
- Force Dark Mode: Some apps might not support dark mode natively. You can force all apps to use dark mode by enabling "Override force-dark" in the "Developer options" under the "Hardware accelerated rendering" section[12].
- Mock Location: Useful for testing location-based apps without physically moving. In "Developer options," you can select a mock location app to simulate different locations[12].
- Stay Awake: This option keeps your screen on while charging, which can be useful for development or when you need to monitor your device continuously. Find it in "Developer options" under "Input" or similar sections[10].
- System UI Demo Mode: This feature helps in taking clean screenshots by hiding notifications and displaying a generic status bar. It can be found in "Developer options" under "Debugging" or similar sections[10].
Additional Tips
- Resetting Developer Options: If you want to reset all changes made in Developer Options, you can simply toggle off the "Developer options" switch at the top of the Developer Options screen. However, this will disable most of the options but keep USB debugging and other settings that don't require a connection to a development computer enabled[10].
- Using ADB Commands: For more advanced customization or troubleshooting, you can use ADB (Android Debug Bridge) commands. This requires enabling USB debugging and connecting your device to a computer with ADB installed[10].
By exploring these options, you can significantly customize your Pixel 9a to suit your needs or preferences.
Citations:
[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lAkx5PzBkfg
[2] https://www.reddit.com/r/techsupport/comments/1hbsf2d/i_bought_my_pixel_9_pro_and_it_came_in_developer/
[3] https://stackoverflow.com/questions/50515750/is-it-possible-to-turn-on-developer-options-for-the-emulator
[4] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3gkox07lxsw
[5] https://support.google.com/pixelphone/thread/247428927/how-do-i-enter-developer-mode
[6] https://www.zdnet.com/article/7-google-pixel-phone-settings-you-should-change-immediately-and-how-to-do-it/
[7] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2fsV0sMqoDo
[8] https://support.google.com/pixelphone/thread/288730104/hide-cutout-option-restored-to-developer-mode
[9] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-XNogvRlxdY
[10] https://developer.android.com/studio/debug/dev-options
[11] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lhC1WmEzblc
[12] https://9to5google.com/2024/12/31/advanced-developer-options-android/