(upbeat music)
- It's getting harder and harder
to ruin your Android phone,
something I personally love doing
a lot of the time.
Not always but a lot of the time.
It allows me to remove all the bloatware
that the carrier may have put on,
the manufacturer might have put on,
and let me kind of really
in most cases get down to a more stock version of Android,
which I as a purist a little bit, prefer.
But it isn't really an option for my SA Plus,
or the SA for that matter, because there is no root method
for the US versions at the moment.
So I figured I'd show you guys
and any other Android purists out there
how you can get your SA or SA Plus
to look and feel as close to stock Android
without having to root it.
Okay so first up, let's start with the thing
that'll probably make the biggest difference
in your day to day use, the launcher.
So for the stockiest launcher we can get,
you're probably going to want the Pixel Launcher
which comes on the Pixel phones.
It is in the Play Store,
but it'll tell you that it doesn't work with your phone,
which is really a lie, but it's going to say that.
So to install it, we need to do the following.
Go to settings, security on the phone,
and then turn on unknown sources.
After that we're going to grab the latest APK file from here
which is a link below this video,
which you should view while on your phone
just to make things easier.
Then you're going to start the download
and save it to your device.
Once it downloads, you can pull down the notification
or go to the My Files app on the phone
and then tap the APK and tap install.
After it installs, we're going to hit the home button
and select Pixel Launcher.
This will also make it the new default launcher,
and anytime you hit the home button,
you're going to end up there.
Next up is the messaging app,
which thankfully is in the Play Store.
So we're going to head to the Play Store
and search for Android Messages,
and then install it.
You're going to know it's the right one
because it'll say that it's from Google Inc.
Once it's installed, we're going to open it
and just follow the prompts to make it
the default messaging app.
And why not as a complement to the new
stock messaging app, the stock keyboard?
Again we're going to the play store,
but this time we're going to search for Gboard.
It'll also be from Google Inc.
Then we're going to install it.
Open the app, and we're just going to
follow the prompts on that as well.
They're a little bit longer 'cause it's going to enable it.
Then it's going to set it as your default input method.
The next time you go to type, it'll be there.
Next up, let's do the browser,
and now Chrome was already installed on my S8 Plus.
Probably is on yours as well
but it's not the default internet browser,
so to do that, we're going to
install it from the Play Store
if you don't already have it of course
by searching for Chrome.
But once it is on the phone
or you confirm that it's on the phone,
we're going to head to settings, apps,
tap the three dots at the top right corner
and select default apps.
Then we're going to tap on browser app and select Chrome.
Now anytime that you open any links or anything like that,
it will automatically open Chrome instead of internet.
Next up let's do the dialer and the contacts.
Now there is a stock dialer and contacts APK file
floating around on the web, but when you try to install it,
it won't work, for whatever reason.
So instead we're going to go to the Play Store
and install a third party app that just really
closely resembles the stock one.
That app is called ExDialer.
So we're going to the Play Store again,
and we're going to search for ExDialer,
and then install it.
Once it's installed, we're going settings on the phone,
then apps, and tap the three dots at the top right corner
to select default apps again.
Then we're going to tap on calling app this time
and select ExDialer.
Next let's have it use the stock calendar app
instead of Samsung's calendar app.
Now this is another one of those things
that might already be on your phone,
but if it's not, go to the Play Store
and search for Google Calendar, and then install it.
Open it and start to set it up if you haven't already.
Once it is set up though, we're gonna go to settings, apps,
and then we're going to tap on the Samsung Calendar.
It actually is called Calendar,
but it's the one with the green icon
compared to the blue one from Google Calendar.
Once there, tap clear defaults,
and this will actually remove Samsung Calendar
as the app to handle events,
and the next time something requires an event,
it'll ask you which calendar to use,
and you can select Google Calendar
to make that the new default.
Then we're also going to tap on more options and settings
and turn off notifications for the Samsung Calendar.
This way we don't get double notifications
every time we have an event.
And for a final touch, why not put on a stock wallpaper?
To do that you can head to this collection here
that has Android wallpapers all the way from Jellybean
to Nougat.
Do this on your phone.
The link is below.
Then we're going to tap on the one that we want
and tap and hold on it once it's enlarged
and tap download image, which will save it to our gallery.
Next we're going to tap and hold on
the home screen background and tap wallpapers.
Then tap my photos and select the wallpaper you downloaded
then tap set wallpaper.
There you go.
There might be some more things that you guys can change.
I'm sure there's a lot of you out there that have done this.
So let me know in the comments below
if you guys have any other things that you can change
besides what I've already listed.
Other people will probably be interested to see
and I'm interested as well.
But if you like this video, please thumbs up it or share it.
It's greatly appreciated.
If you want more videos like this,
please check out my channel,
and if you like what you see there, please subscribe.
Also I just relaunched my tech blog.
The link is in the description
or floating around here somewhere,
but please check it out.
There's a lot of tech news that I'm now doing on there,
other tutorials that don't necessarily
make it here to video,
and a bunch of other stuff as well.
Would love for you guys to check it out
and let me know what you think.
As always though, thanks for watching.
(upbeat music)