Setting up Samsung A71 From Scratch

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First time Starting Phone

Special notes (self-promotion):
I got the plan from Zoomer: you can sign up using my link (you get $50 off) which is enough for a first month, they got promotions for new customers as well (I got $150 credit), so you can usually get 4 months free on a 2 year plan.  

Accounts

First thing you need is a google account (I decided to create a new one, so it is not linked with emails or other things).

I have decided to not share history and store location for Google, nor use personalized ads.

On the setup I have decided to skip over Samsung Galaxy store and account - this was done later with Find my Phone.

Loggin in :

I set up finger print login and a pattern

Removing Apps which I do not use

There are lots of apps which I do not need so I got rid of them, they are broken down in a few categories.
For removing permission hold on the app and remove all permissions that are assigned (one at a time) and set Change system settings to not allowed

Google:

Uninstalled:
  • Play Movies
  • YT Music
  • Drive
  • Photos
Disabled
  • Duo
  • Google (chrome is still enabled)

Microsoft:

Uninstalled:
  • LinkedIn
  • Office
  • Outlook
Disabled App:
  • One Drive

Samsung:

Uninstalled:
    • Samsung Pay
    • Samsung Notes
    • Samsung Global Goals
    • Samsung Members
    • Samsung Health
    • SmartThings
    • Galaxy Wearable
    Disabled
    • Galaxy Store 
    Removed Permissions:
    • Calendar (and Blocked notifications)

    Others:

    Uninstalled:
    • Spotify (re-installed from scratch )
    • Calculator (you can use google)
    • MyChat (this is for my network, it goes through Rogers)
    Disabled:
    • Netflix
    • Facebook

    Porting the number

    The number you got is a new number, if you would like to change reach out to support via:
    https://www.zoomerwireless.ca/myaccount/overview


    Linking Accounts

    Special notes: When you add a new service (E.g. Google Drive) it will automatically try to sync across all your registered accounts).  And when you add a new account, it will attempt to sync all services.  Take special notes for Contacts below.

    I already have some stuff from other google accounts, so I added it and had chosen what info to sync, for example I choose not to sync Contacts and People details, but am Syncing

    •  Calendar
    •  Keep notes
    •  Gmail
    On my phone account I am syncing:
    • People details
    • Contacts
    • Chrome
    • Gmail (a few emails for the phone accounts but that is about it.
    I am not syncing
    • Calendar 
    • Keep notes

    Phone settings

    Find my Phone (Samsung Account)

    I signed in with Google, selected only the required fields. It ended up creating a Samsung Account with the same email address.
    I have NOT given permissions for remote unlock or send last location
    By doing this you will also get an email to your phone with the serial number and model (good for reference)
    I had to disable Sync for the account.

    Once you set it up you can play with the settings here, to ensure it is set up properly.

    Status Bar 

    • changed to show all notifications 
    • changed to show battery percentage 

    Bixby Home 

    hold on the home screen so you can go into edit mode, scroll all the way to left and disable Bixby Home


    Keyboard

    Search Manage Keyboards
    • removed Google voice typing and Samsung voice input
    Samsung Keyboard settings:
    Smart Settings
    • Unselected Suggest stickers while typing
    Swipe, touch and feedback
    • Swipe to type
    • Touch Feedback - unselected sound and vibrations

    System sounds / vibration controls

    • Vibrations remove all
    • sound removed touch interactions, Samsung keyboard and dialing keypad

    Caller Id and Spam Protection

    Under Phone (the app) settings, turn on caller Id and spam protection  (You have to agree to Hiya's Privacy Policy and Terms of Service)

    Contacts:

    Exported from Google Contacts  (from old account to csv) and imported to new account.
    This way contacts are separate from the email, which has a million emails over the history of my life. 
    To avoid the issue below you should delete all contacts from all but one google account.  (I emailed myself the csv as a backup)

    Auto syncing issue:
    Due to the way sync works, when I added a secondary Google account (intended only for emails), it started to sync contacts as well.  After I removed sync for secondary google account the contacts still had both the sources.  I had to actually delete all the contacts all together from the secondary Google account.. I would suggest you do this before you adding the accounts to the phone.  

    Firefox:

    I installed Firefox since it has add-ons which are good and I think provide a better overall security (privacy) than chrome.  I installed the app the following add-ons:
    • uBlock Origin
    • Privacy Badger

    I have also set it as a default browser so when I open links from apps (or accidentally click on an ad) it does not get stored in my browser history.

    I have removed all Data Collection (under settings)

    Youtube

    Youtube now has a ton of ads (including midstream which makes it very annoying). To get around it you can watch it on Firefox (and when you need to cast, you can do screen mirroring)

    WhatsApp

    I decided to do manual copying of the messages over. I followed the local transfer from here.

    Suggestion, on your source phone turn off Data and WiFi after backup is complete as you might miss some messages in the transfer.

    I did the transfer using Wi-Fi Direct (click on the share on your old phone, select Wi-Fi Direct)
    On new phone search Wi-Fi Direct in settings and turn it on.
    After the move finishes, you need to create Directory WhatsApp and Databases inside it.


    Install WhatsApp.
    Choose to get backup from Google. (This is a tad misleading)
    I rejected connecting to account, and gave permissions for file access, and pressed restore.

    Hide images from Gallery

    You might want to hide images you get from WhatsApp form the gallery.
    When you open  My File App you can rename one of the existing images you have to be titled ".NOMEDIA" (There is no extension).  Move this to Folder /WhatsApp/Media (and all files and subfolders will not be shown in Gallery.)
    These files will still be visible through the My Files app.


    The period means that once you rename the file it will be hidden (you can show hidden files through settings in MyFiles, but you will not need this unless you want to enable the images to be shown in Gallery.  

    Voicemail

    Dial 1 and follow the prompts.
    You will need to select a password to access you voicemail, and from there you can go to record your own message, or have one preselected for you. 

    Side Bar

    Click on the side bar and select apps you want to have quick access to.
    They also have compass, and some clipping tools, and a few other frames you can select from. 

    More:

    There is also a Tips App from Samsung which will tell you what you can do on the phone. 



    Accessories:

    I got this case, it was for $15. I have previously had the Spigen brand and I was very satisfied with the quality (and more importantly price, compared to 50$ from official Samsung)



    Random bugs:

    Some Google links open in Uber.

    For example this link:
    will open in Uber app.
    While something like this will open in Google Maps:


    Not sure why this is exactly happening, as Uber does not have those links as default app owners.
    But the fix for this works, when you open the link you can choose Google Maps (or another app of your choice).


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