Turning on developer mode on any device grants you massive power at great risk. On Android, the little things include changing the icons that appear in your status bar. The biggies? Changing out your phone or tablet’s firmware. Here’s what you need to know about Android’s developer mode and how to turn it on.
How do I turn on Developer Mode on Android?
This is probably the simplest thing to explain, so we’ll cover it first. To turn on developer mode for your Android device:
- Head to your settings app.
- Look for the build number of your software version. Build numbers begin with three letters and a numeral.
- This will vary from device to device, but most brands will offer an in-app search engine that you can use to find it.
- Otherwise, try looking under the System or About phone subheadings.
- Once found, tap on the build number seven times. You will see on-screen prompts telling you how many times you’ll still need to press it before developer mode is turned on.
- Congratulations! You are now a developer. You’ll find a new submenu for developers either in the main settings or under system settings.
Why would I want to turn on Developer Mode in Android?
Developer mode grants you access to some of what we would call the 200- and 300-level features on your device.
What gets included in developer settings will vary depending on if your phone was made by Samsung, OnePlus, Google, or some other brand because Android device manufacturers have great latitude in deciding what features their users get access to easily, which ones require some hurdles to jump over, and which ones you can’t get to unless you actively decide to bash through the caution signs.
When you turn something on or off, there will always be performance and security trade-offs. There is no guarantee that if something goes wrong, you’ll be able to get your phone back to regular working order – even with a factory reset.
That said, there’s plenty to cruise through that we consider to be the smaller potatoes while still offering some quality-of-life improvement. Here’s a selection of these toggles and sub-settings as seen on a Google Pixel device running the Android 14 Beta:
- The DSU Loader might be useful in installing a special software update such as a beta or a hotfix.
- Show refresh rate lets you check your display’s refresh rate in real time.
- Mobile data is always active keeps your device’s cellular radio active even while you are on Wi-Fi for faster network switching as needed.
- Network download rate limit allows you to set a speed cap for any download activity you do.
- Show taps places a small, white highlight where your display detects a touch point. It’s handy for spotting any odd pressing or scrolling activity.
- Setting different speed multiples for the Window animation scale, Transition animation scale, and Animator duration scale will affect how quickly the user interface changes. Smaller values mean faster changes.
- Smallest width is basically a custom DPI setting for your display. The higher the value, the more densely packed the interface becomes, and the smaller each element will be sized.
- Simulate color space offers options to view content as filtered by different types of color blindness.
- Enable activities to be resizable basically forces apps like Instagram to be usable in split-screen mode.
- Disable USB audio routing can be useful if you use headphones with a USB connector and would like to change how they work.
- Stylus handwriting lets the display accept stylus input when you have a text box selected.
Some of the more important ones are:
- You can send Bug reports through other means without developer mode on, but if your device is misbehaving, this is where you know you’ll be able to find it.
- Toggling on OEM Unlocking in combination with USB debugging paves the way for you to unlock your device’s bootloader, load new operating systems at a wholesale level, and gain root-level privileges which can be exploited in many ways – our friends at Android Police explain how through the means of Magisk modules.
- USB debugging allows you to connect to a computer via a USB cable and use ADB to change hidden settings by command-line prompts. You can learn more about ADB with this guide from our sister site, XDA-Developers.
- One handy tool that you can use with ADB is scrcpy.
- Wireless debugging lets you perform ADB commands wirelessly if your phone or tablet and your computer are connected to the same Wi-Fi network.
- Stay awake prevents your device from going to sleep while charging unless you decide to lock it.
- The Default USB configuration setting determines whether your Android device will establish any data connection when it’s cabled up to another device and unlocked.
- You can Select a mock location app and use an app such as Fake GPS to set a pinpoint that the system will send to apps that ask for your location data.
Whatever you decide to do with Developer Mode on Android, remember to be careful; with great power comes great responsibility.