15 Honor Play Hidden Features, Tips and Tricks To Know

Huawei’s Honor Play (Quick Review) is one of its most talked about phones and for good reason. The handset should particularly be appealing to hardcore games on a budget, as it employs Huawei’s flagship Kirin 970 mobile platform at a starting price of just Rs. 19,999.

On the software front, the Honor Play runs feature rich EMUI 8.2 which is based on Android 8.1 Oreo. The same software also powers phones like Honor 9N, Honor 10, Nova 3i, and Nova 3. In case you have already bought any of these phones and are exploring it further, here are a few things you can try.

Honor Play, Honor 10 and Honor 9N (EMUI 8.1) Tips and Tricks 

1. Call Recording and Call Forwarding on Honor Phones

To enable call recording, Auto call recording or call forwarding, just open the dial app. Now press on the triple dot menu icon to access settings. From the next menu, you can customize all call-related settings. Here you’ll notice options for call recording, Call forwarding, to set Speed dial, for setting individual ringtones for both SIM cards and more.

2. Launcher settings – Add/remove App drawer, customize search

A launcher is the UI element that you’d interact with the most. In case you don’t wish to third party launchers on EMUI 8.2, you can also ways customize the default one.

If you wish to add or remove app drawer, head to Settings>> Display>> Home screen style.

To access other launcher settings, just long press anywhere on the home screen and select settings. 

Now, you can turn off Google feed on the left pane, and customize ‘Search Result’. This search refers to the option that appears with ‘swipe down gesture’ on the home screen. From Search result settings, you can decide data (Settings, contact, apps, etc.) that you wish your phone to search through when you enter a keyword.

Also Read: 10 Best Snapdragon 845 Phones To Buy In 2018

3. Share or Recover WiFi Password

If you have forgotten the Wi-Fi password for an SSID that your phone is already connected to, you can recover it with ease on Huawei or Honor phones.

To do so, open WiFi Settings, and tap on the WiFi network whose password you wish to recover. Now Scan the QR code using any app (using any other Android phone) and you will get the WiFi Password. You can also use this QR Code to share WiFi with friends without revealing your password.

4. Use two different accounts for WhatsApp, Facebook

Huawei Honor phones also have support for dual Apps. To use the same app with multiple accounts, go to Settings>> Apps and Notifications>> App Twin. 

5. Manage Notch and Status Bar 

Notch looks fancy (arguably), but the downside is the lack of space available in the status bar. To make up for the same, OEMs rely on software.

Here are things you can do on Huawei or Honor phones to customize the status bar according to your individual preferences

• Hide Notch:  If you detest the notch, you can camouflage it behind black status-bar strip. However, hiding the notch won’t give you more space on the status bar. To do so, go to Settings>> Display>> Notch. 
• Change battery indicator style: Go to Settings>>Apps and Notificiation>> Notification and Status Bar. From here, you can decide battery indicator style. 
• Notifications on status bar: From the same menu as above, you can also set notifications to show as a number, since the notch doesn’t leave enough space for all status bar icons.

6. Bike Mode

Huawei also adds a very handy and elaborate Ride mode. Unlike other Bike modes, the phone on Honor phones allows you to play pre-recorded messages to callers when you are riding. There is also an option to play auto recording messages in your choice of language.

You can also use the ride mode to track and map your bike travels.

7. Customize Navigation Bar

Honor Play doesn’t support gesture navigation, but there are different Navigation bar styles that you can opt for. Apart from the default three-key navigation bar, you can also choose a floating navigation bar or the single key navigation bar with a wide pill.

Using the single button navigation bar, you can tap the single button for back, long-press for home, and swipe left or right for recent apps.

8. One Hand Mode

Like most modern phones, the Huawei also adds One Hand mode to its phones. To activate one hand mode, go to Settings>> Smart Assistance>>One-handed UI.

From here, you can activate the option to turn on one-hand mode for the entire screen (mini view) or for just the keyboard (shifting keyboard). Once activated, you can switch to Onehand mode using simple gestures.

9. Display Colors

From here, select ‘Normal’ color profile which is closer to sRGB colors. If you feel the display is now unnaturally yellowish, just give yourself some time to adjust.

Also Read: Best Phones under Rs 30,000 to buy in India

10. Portrait Mode, Qmoji, and other Camera tricks

The Camera app on EMUI 8.2 is extremely loaded and exciting. Here are a few things you can try:

Portrait mode and 3D Lighting: In the portrait mode, you can turn on or turn on/off bokeh by taping on the icon on the left corner. By pressing the 3D button, you can add a different lighting effect to clicked images. These features work for both front and rear cameras.

Aperture mode: To adjust background blur in portrait mode shots, you aperture mode instead of portrait mode.

Qmoji and AR stickers: You can access AR Stickers and Qmoji on Huawei phones in the ‘AR Lens’ section of the camera app.

11. Fingerprint Gestures and Paytm Quick Pay

You can put the fingerprint sensor on Honor phones to good use in more than one way. Apart from unlocking the phone, you can use the finger reader for quick Paytm payments, as a shutter key, to answer calls, to browse photos in the gallery, to drag down notifications and more.

To access these features go to Settings>>Security & Privacy >> Fingerprint ID. To manage more sensitive tasks like Paytm Payment, App lock access, etc. go to ‘Fingerprint management’.

After you turn on Paytm Quick Pay, you will able to directly unlock your phone and open Paytm payment page by long pressing the fingerprint sensor.

12. Direct Face Unlock

By default, you will have to slide up lock screen to unlock after your face is recognized. You can, however, set the phone to unlock directly.

To accomplish this, go to Settings>>Security & Privacy >>Face Unlock. Here you will also find the option to see notifications on lock-screen after the face data confirms that it’s the owner who’s watching.

13. App Lock and Private Space

EMUI 8.2 also has inbuilt App lock, File safe, and Private space. You can access the two from Settings>> Security & Privacy.

Private Space divides your phone storage into two sections and adds a new private space to your phone. The App lock can be used to guard apps with a separate PIN, face and fingerprint unlock.

14. Three finger screenshot

EMUI 8.2 also has a set of motion gestures that you can access under Settings>>Smart Assistance >> motion control.

In this menu, you will also find the option to activate three finger screenshot.

15.  Hi-Touch

Hi-touch could be occasionally useful for compulsive online shoppers who prefer buying from Amazon. You can enable Hi-touch from Settings>>Smart Assistance.

Once done, you can tap on any image with two fingers to initiate an image search for the product on Amazon. For Hi-touch to work, you will have to install Amazon Assistant on your phone.

15 Best Honor Play Hidden Features, Tips, and Tricks

Since Huawei uses the same software on almost all of its phones, these tricks will work on all EMUI 8.2 phones including Honor 9N, Huawei Nova 3 and Nova 3i, and Honor 10.