Android 5.0 Lollipop basics: How to turn on the developer settings

By Phil Nickinson
last updated

This is one of those really basic things for most folks here. We get that. But it's worth a reminder for those new to Android (hi, new folks!), and new to Android 5.0 Lollipop. And so it deserves a quick minute of our time.

Android 5.0 basics

Most of what you'll see in the Lollipop developer settings (at least as of the updated preview) is the same as what you'll find in KitKat. Go to Settings>About phone and hit the build number 7 times to unlock things. And most of us won't need to go anywhere near most of the options. (USB debugging really is the only one I ever need to touch.) It is worth noting, however, that you won't find an option to either use the Dalvik or experimental ART runtime. That's because (and, again, those of you in the back of the class should know this already) the new Android Runtime is the default in Android 5.0, and it's been built to run apps compiled for Dalvik as well. This is a good thing.

You'll find some new media options for an experimental HTML5 player and USB audio, some Wifi tweaks, and a few other things that frankly I have no business mucking about with.

Hack responsibly, folks.

Phil Nickinson
Phil Nickinson
19 Comments
  • One of the first things I do on any new device is go into developer settings and turn all the animations to .5 scale. Regular speed feels like it's just crawling. I like animations, but only as long as they stay out of the way.
  • Oh definitely, I do the same posted via HTC M8 with Android L keyboard
  • I actually turn the animations off completely. Makes for a faster experience. Posted via the Android Central App
  • Definitely. Same here. When I had an iphone, my god, those animations take forever. I always had it jailbroken and had that tweak that you could speed up animations. I always had it on like, ferarri or something.
  • Oh god ppl will be bitching about this article Posted via Nexus 7 2013 or verizon Galaxy S5 or maybe one day through my moto 360
  • Funny how a video comes across as more useful than a typed article in cases like this. I am guessing your comment is coming from the article about the 5 things to do with a Note 4? Had he done a video showing himself going through those same 5 steps I bet the negative comments would have been fewer even though it would have shown the exact same content.
  • Seeing as how no one has a lollipop phone, that's understandable imo Posted via...The One
  • (slightly off topic) I like the short video report more than a short article about this topic. Though I knew how to access developer mode, I enjoyed watching the few settings you use.
  • USB Audio, that's pretty cool.....seems like a lot of car audio systems have USB inputs that work great with iPhones, but not so much with Android, hopefully this'll fix that.
  • And remember: if you don't know what it does, don't change it! Learn what it does, learning is fun. Posted via Android Central App
  • I always turn on the Show Touches option, it's great for taking screenshots to show mom how to do something and I just like the on "screen confirmation of where the phone thinks my finger(s) are.
  • It'd be nice if Google baked in an option to enable Super User from that menu. I'd love to not have to unlock my bootloader and go through the root process just to install an adblocker/host file or whatever and then disable it again once I am finished doing what I am doing that requires root like how you can in linux. I know the (US) carriers would never allow that to happen and Google themselves probably would never want that (They make their money from ads after all) but it would be nice to have control of our own phones regardless of where or who we buy them from.
  • Yup .5 one of the biggest differences ...makes my n5 feel extra snappy... Luvs it. Posted via the Android Central App
  • Nice.....
  • Personally I like to turn on the USB keep awake option. IE: When plugged in USB, keep the device from sleeping. I don't know why this isn't in the regular options already. Who wants the device to sleep when it's connected to main power? what's the point? I think I'll try that .5 animations option though. My original N7 is a bit sluggish on Lollipop from time to time. Although giving it a full wipe really helped.
  • As a millenial developer, thank you for making even this simple task into a full video with kickin' intro music and all. I know it takes about ten times as long as reading three steps, but we're visual learners, and reading is such a drag.
  • Fantastic! Thank you for helping me resolve my roaming WiFi issues. Two thumbs up for Android.
  • ....and this is already obsolete. It is under About Phone/Software Info. At least it is on my phone running 5.1.1. Consistency does not seem to be something that Android developers enjoy on a regular basis.
  • Thank you!!.. your video was useful!