Nova Launcher is undoubtedly the go to launcher app on the Android platform. With a slew of features at your disposal, Nova Launcher is the ultimate way for the customization of your phone. Giving you the capacity to add a personalized look on your Android, the launcher is able to simultaneously stun and confuse those who access your phone. The sheer number of options offered can be overwhelming, but there are also many that are often not taken advantage of. Here are a few ways you can customize your Android using the Nova Launcher app.

Hidden folders

This is an awesome way to fast retrieval of all the apps that you most frequently use while avoiding the app clutter on your home screen. You can easily create an hidden folder for apps, and ensuring it only appears as an icon of your choice. Once you press the folder, it will just launch the first app, however, when it is swiped up, the folder opens up, and you'll be able to see the various related apps on the folder.For example you can use the music icon as a hidden folder for Sound Cloud, Music Player, Shazam etc. So when you press on the icon, it will just open Sound Cloud but by swiping up you will get to see all the other range of apps.Setting this up is easy, first use the normal way of dragging the apps you want into a folder. Now you can long-press on the folder, then select the Edit option that appears. Next, you can tap on the icon to select a different icon, change the folder's name to your liking and and then toggle Swipe to open and Tap action settings. Flip the Swipe to open button to the right and then choose the First item in folder on the drop-down menu for the Tap action.For added customization, you could also make the folders transparent, open the Nova Settings and head into Folders >> Background and slide the Transparency bar to 100 percent.

Use swipe actions on apps

Using swipe actions to launch apps that are related to each other is another thing you need to try. For instance, you can set the Google Calendar app to open your reminders when you swipe up or launch the Gallery app by swiping on the camera icon and even also open the Messenger app with swipe action on the Facebook app icon.Set this up by long-pressing on an icon, choose Edit and then tap Swipe action to choose the action you want.

Swipe actions for the home screen

The last way of making use of the swipe actions is by using them to add a swipe gestures to the home screen. For example to you could add a simple swipe up gesture to launch the app drawer, to open Nova settings set a double-fingered swipe up while setting two fingers to swipe down to open Google Now, and so on. Basically, you can select whatever is suitable for you.Simply navigate to the Nova Settings >> Gestures & inputs and and go through the Gestures section and determine the actions you want to set to perform certain actions.

Double tap to lock

Just head into the Nova Settings, tap the Gestures & input option and select Double Tap then choose Screen lock. Now, whenever you double-tap on the home screen, the device will immediately lock itself.

Smooth wipe scrolling

In case you've added the same widget on different launcher screens then you can apply Nova Launcher's wipe scroll effect which offers a smoother ways of switching between screens while the widget remains in the spot all the way through.Just set this up, by adding the same widget to the multiple launcher screens on your device and then go to your Nova settings. Find Desktop >> Scroll effect and tap the Wipe option towards the bottom of the list.What other Nova Launcher features should users be making use of? Let us know in the comments.

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What's my model number?

There are several ways to locate your model number:

Option 1
On your device, go to Settings, then "About device" and scroll down to "Model number"
Option 2
Often times you can view the model number inside the device, by removing the battery
Option 3
Using Samsung's model/serial number location tool

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