Smart Phone Tips Archives - Rick's Daily Tips

Q&A: How can I make the text bigger on my phone?

Posted on March 20, 2025

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Question from Carol: Hi, Rick. I need your help with a problem I’m having if you don’t mind.

I recently had a stroke and it affected my eyesight. My recovery is going well but I still don’t see nearly as well as I used to.

One of the biggest problems I have is reading the text on my phone. It would help a lot if I could make the letters bigger.

Can you tell me if that’s possible and how to change it if it is? [Read more…]

Q&A: How do I set Google Play to only auto-update apps over Wi-Fi?

Posted on February 12, 2025

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Question from Kara: I have an Android phone that loves to auto-update my apps over my cellular data connection without any warning.

The problem is I sometimes use up my data allotment before the month runs out.

I realize that downloading app updates doesn’t use up a lot of data, but they do use some, right?

How can I set my phone to only auto-update my apps when I’m connected to Wi-Fi? [Read more…]

Has that used phone you’re buying been reported lost or stolen?

Posted on January 8, 2025

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It’s no secret that some modern smartphones cost as much as a decent computer system. That’s why used phones are in such high demand these days.

Buying a used smartphone sight-unseen is a risky endeavor because there’s no way to know how much abuse the device has received or what kind of shape it’s actually in.

Even worse, if the phone you’re thinking about purchasing was lost or stolen it could well be locked in order to prevent it from being activated by a new owner – which could be you if you end up buying it. [Read more…]

How to preview a link in the Chrome Android app before you actually open it

Posted on December 30, 2024

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I have four different web browsers on my Android phone, and I use all of them at various times for different purposes.

The browser I prefer to use when reading articles and blog posts is Chrome because it has several features that I happen to find extremely useful.

One feature that I absolutely love (and use often) is “Page Preview“, a nifty little tool that allows you to preview the web page a link is pointing to before you actually open the page in a browser tab. [Read more…]