My phone is made out of potatoes.
I once mentioned about I'm using Safe Mode for gaming in the Tower of Saviors Discord server. So for my first English post, I wanted to share some knowledge I'd been research on my potato phone this far.
I would like to admit that my phone is a true potato here if according to today's standards. Forget playing PUBG (my phone will NEVER support it), even loading simple stuff like WhatsApp or Discord is a pain to me sometimes.
Not to mention that this post is also written in my phone too.
You don't believe me? Fine. Here's some info about my phone.
1GB RAM and 1.0GHz of processing speed. :pain:
Enough of the chat, first question: Ever heard of Safe Mode on Android?
If yes, feel free to skip the next paragraph.
Else, let's move on.
Safe Mode is a mode similar to Windows' Safe Mode, which you cannot use ANY (yes none, nada) third party programs/apps in it. It was initially meant to used to uninstall risky third party apps that may cause instability to one's device.
Apparently, there is a flaw in Android which apps left unkilled will still remain in the Recent Apps menu after shutting down or reboot. What's fun that this APPLIES IN SAFE MODE TOO.
In hooman language, apps will be remain in the Recent Apps menu if you don't kill it (aka swipe it away) after every reboot even in Safe Mode. But there's an additional condition for Safe Mode.
Apps must be in the Internal Storage in order to leave them at the Recent Apps in Safe Mode.
Before I start, here's my phone screen before going into Safe Mode. There will be differences after you reboot to Safe Mode.
Lockscreen
Homescreen. Heavily customised by Nova Launcher (with Nova Launcher Prime running along).
So here's how to let third party apps run in Safe Mode:-
1. Get to Settings, and find the Apps menu under the Device section
2. Find the app you want to transfer to the internal storage. Tap on it and you'll get something like the image below. I use Scale for this demonstration.
3.1 Tap on Storage.
3.2 Select Internal Storage. Misty.EXE is also the name for my SD card lul.
4.1 The system will remind you that the app will not be available during the transfer of the app to the Internal Storage. Applies vice versa. Tap Move to continue (additional notes below).
4.2 Hold on for a few minutes. Depending on the size of the app, the transfer time varies. It is a good idea to leave the phone at this screen until the transfer is complete to avoid any trouble.
Fact: I once got my LINE uninstalled by the system due to some unknown errors during transferring the app to the SD card. But I don't mind since I use it every 626548123561 years.
5. Once transfer is complete, instead of SD card being shown (Misty.EXE in my case), the Internal Storage is shown to show that the app is successfully transferred to the Internal Storage.
Note: If there's nothing (neither Internal Storage nor SD card), reboot your phone again. This is normal. If the app is still in the SD card, repeat 1 to 5 again for the same app again.
6. Now starting here is the important part. Launch the app. Return to your homescreen once it's launched. Now check is your app at the Recent Apps menu. The Recent Apps button should be at the left or right hard key of your device, depending to model. You should have the target app there. PLEASE DO NOT DO ANYTHING WITH IT (including killing aka swiping it away).
7.1 Reboot to Safe Mode. Hold your device's Power button as how you are going to shut down your device. Yes you don't have Reboot to Safe Mode option there as it is hidden. To get your phone rebooted to Safe Mode, tap and hold on the Power Off button (additional notes about this at below of post), and you'll get something like this below. Tap on OK.
7.2 Hold on for a few minutes to let your phone to restart.
7.3 After rebooting, here's how my phone looked like in Safe Mode.
Lockscreen. Nothing much is changed except for the additional translucent Safe Mode marking.
Homescreen. Since Nova Launcher is a third party app, so obviously it's being disabled. This is the launcher that comes together with the phone manufacturer FYI.
8. Get back to the Recent Apps menu, and voila. The app is still there. Feel free to use it.
Note: You may need to repeat 6 to 8 again in case you accidentally killed them in Safe Mode. Be aware of this. I'll show how to kill apps in Safe Mode easily without swiping the app away through Recent Apps next time.
Here's some in-game screenshots in Safe Mode:-
Scale
However, there are still downsides for using Safe Mode:-
In overall, if your phone is going potatoes in terms of in-game performance (or perhaps for a peace and quiet net surfing experience without being disturbed constantly by good 'ol WhatsApp), Safe Mode is a good choice for you. :wink:
So this is the end of Part 1 in Potato Phones 101. Next in Potato Phones 101: Boost Your Phone Using Developer Options!
Fun Fact: I stumbled into all of these while I'm trying to remove the app lock application in my phone in Safe Mode (I actually forgot the pattern for the app lock so yeah RIP brain memory)
- Misty.EXE
