11 Reasons You Must Try Android Multiple Users Feature

In the past, when owning a computer was a privilege, everyone shared a single computer where each user had their own profile. For a long time, a similar feature was missing from Android phones but things changed for good in 2014 when Google introduced many users to the Android 5.0 Lollipop update.

It’s also now an essential part of every Android phone and tablet — it reaped its benefits long before phones. So what is this feature and how does it work on Android? You’ll get all the answers here along with why you should start using this feature.

Start.

What is a user profile on Android

User profiles allow you to share your Android device (phone or tablet) with others without sharing any personal data. When you create a new user or guest profile, it’s exactly like creating another user account on your Windows PC. Each user has a private space linked to their own Google account where they have different home screens, apps, settings, files, messages, etc.

There are three types of profiles — administrator (phone owner), user, and guest.

What is shared and what is not?

Be careful about the following as they are shared with others:

• App updates for popular apps
• Incoming phone call
• Memory usage
• Use data

Here are the things that are not shared:

• Files (photos, videos, music, etc.)
• installed apps
• App data like chat, history, etc.
• Notification
• message
• Uninstall apps
• Contacts and call history

For example, if you have Netflix installed on your own profile, the service won’t be available on other profiles. However, if another user also has Netflix installed, both of you will be able to update the app. But that doesn’t mean your Netflix viewing history will be available to other users. Similarly, uninstalling Netflix from your own profile will not uninstall Netflix from other users.

Now that you know a bit about user profiles, here are 11 reasons to use it.

1. Enjoy your private space

Let’s say you like to watch TikTok compilation videos on YouTube. Now, imagine when your friend checks YouTube on your phone and he/she gets a ‘Best TikTok Videos’ recommendation. You get hints. I wouldn’t want that kind of shame on my enemies.

With multiple users you will be saved from such awkward moments for all your data (documents, videos, music, chats etc) including synced app data is separately for each configuration.

2. Keep your data safe

If you have younger siblings or children, they will often grab your phone to play games or watch YouTube videos. While that’s okay, today’s phones contain important data. Any accidental tap will cost us valuable content.

While Android phones come with an app pin feature, it’s not entirely useful because it’s easy to drop it and use other apps. But with many users, all your data won’t be in those tiny and dangerous hands because a new profile won’t have access to your data.

3. Lock your content

What about using multiple profiles if you can’t secure it? Android phones and tablets offer multiple ways to lock the screen, such as pattern, pin, and password. Each user can choose a different unlocking method to keep their data safe from prying eyes.

4. Be My Guest

User profiles are useful when family members or friends frequently use your phone. What about cases where you need to share your phone for a short time? Meet the guest profile. Guest profiles are for one-time users who use the phone for a while, and you don’t need to create extra space.

Similar to user profiles, guest profiles have a separate space that has no access to any of your data (apps, photos, videos, installed messages, etc.).

Guest profiles have several benefits over regular user profiles. First, they are temporarily making it easy to delete them and start over for a new guest.

Second, guests can easily remove themselves after using the phone. This feature can be quite handy when you want to use someone’s phone for a short time.

5. Content Restrictions (Tablets Only)

Both user and guest profiles lack admin control over anyone using the phone through either of those profiles can freely browse any website, install apps, viewing adult content, etc. What if we want to limit the use of only a few apps or disable browsing for children? For such situations, you can take advantage of restricted configurations.

With that, you can control what features and content the profile is allowed to access. This feature is limited to the Nexus line of tablets.

6. Don’t let time stop you

Non-guest users need to add their Google account to set up their user profile. Sometimes the user we’re creating a profile with isn’t with us so adding a Google account can be an issue, but that doesn’t mean you can’t keep the profile ready.

While creating a new user, you will be asked if you want to set up the account now or later. Tap Not now. This way a user profile will be created but the user can set it up later.

7. Easy configuration switching

Whenever a person asks for your phone, you don’t need to dive into the settings to switch profiles because you can quickly do it right from any screen or even the lock screen.

To do it from any screen, swipe down from the top to open the notification panel. Here, tap on the small user icon and select another user profile.

To switch profiles from the lock screen, tap the user icon that usually appears in the upper-right corner.

8. Add users from the lock screen

Not only can you switch between profiles from the lock screen, but you can also add users directly from there.

To do that, you need to enable the Add user from lock screen setting first. The installation location may vary. On some devices, it’s present in Settings > Security and Location > Lock screen options, and on others you’ll find it under Settings > Users.

9. View storage and data quota

Although profiles have their own space, they share the same device memory. So, if your device has 6 GB of free storage and you add a 1 GB movie, the total space available to all users will be reduced to 5 GB.

Now if your device is running low on memory, one might think that finding the owner taking up the maximum space would be a confusing task. But it is not the case that users can easily check the space occupied by other users. To do that, go to Settings > Storage. You’ll find details from the different profiles in the Other Users section.

Similarly, you can check other users’ Wi-Fi and mobile data usage in Settings > Data usage.

Note:

10. Limit calls and SMS

By default, the user profile can only receive calls. They cannot make calls and send or receive SMS. Any text messages received when signing in to another profile will be shown to the phone owner when they sign in. However, if the phone owner wants to, they can enable phone calls and SMS separately for each user profile.

For that, go to Settings > Users. Tap the settings gear icon next to the username. Then enable the toggle for Enable phone calls & SMS.

11. Admin Has Ultimate Power

User and guest profiles cannot create or add users. Power lies only with the owner of the phone. So you don’t need to worry about users creating new profiles.

What is catch?

Obviously, each profile takes up its own space for both apps and files. So more users will result in less storage space, which in turn affects device performance. Furthermore, all profiles running concurrently in the background also affect the overall performance of the device. Therefore, be careful and don’t go crazy with creating multiple profiles.

Next up: Love using gestures? Check out these 5 hidden gestures on Android.

Categories: How to
Source: thpttranhungdao.edu.vn/en/