What is view attribute inspection?
You can also fake your location by enabling mock location feature (This way you can make someone think you’re at a place, where you aren’t.) There are a lot of options here for you to explore. You can tinker with your device with this new found power. To begin with, you’ll first need to enable the developer options on your Android phone.
Although, The settings are easy to mess around with and can be disabled anytime. It’s always a good idea to mess around with them after knowing their intended development uses.
Before you begin! You’ll need to enable the developer options to access the settings inside it. However, you can jump this section if you’re here just for information about those settings.
Manufacturers hide the Developer options because they don’t want someone with no idea about it to mess around with it. To use the options inside the ‘Developer options,’ you’ll need to enable it. Below are the simple steps:
The above steps didn’t work? Don’t worry, in one of our guides. We’ve explained the steps to enable Developer options on different brands. Check the below listed links for brand-specific guides.
You can follow the steps, and they should help you with it. If you think Developer options isn’t something you should tinker around. You can follow our guide to disable it. If you want access to it after disabling/hiding it, you can follow the same steps which you used in the past to enable it, and you’ll be able to enable it. We now know how to enable and disable the Android Developer options. So let’s get started with the settings inside Developer options.
This option is available on Android 8.0 and its higher versions. You can use it to add ‘selected Developer Options’ to your Quick Settings panel. You can enable the available tiles, and once they are selected. Navigate to the Quick settings, add them to the visible Quick settings and click on them to activate.
When Bug report option is chosen, it will record logcat, archive it, and will send it to whomever you want. It takes a couple of minutes to process, and once the process completes, you’ll see a notification in status bar. Tap on that notification to send the report.
It is useful when you want to take a screenshot of your device without any cluttering in the notification bar. Demo mode will show a preset notification bar by hiding all notifications and system warnings. This option is mostly used by the App developers when they capture the screenshot of their app.
While discussing ADB commands, we have seen ADB backup option to take a backup of your device. Desktop backup password option can enforce a password for that backup. If you do not want a password for your backup, you can turn this option off.
Enabling Stay awake option will force the phone/tablet’s display to stay on every time it’s plugged into a wall charger or your computer’s USB port. Although, having this option enabled would reduce the battery life and increase the battery consumption. Alternatively, you can also install the apps to stop your device from sleeping (They work even when your device is not charging or connected to a Computer using USB.)
Sometimes, a developer might want to capture and analyze Bluetooth HCI (Host Controller Interface) packets. Enabling this setting will store those logs in a file on the phone storage (/sdcard/btsnoop_hci.log). They can be analyzed with tools like Wireshark.
The USB debugging is one of the most common reasons why people enable the Developer options. It is what allows your device to communicate over the USB port on your PC via ADB (Android Debug Bridge.) You need to enable this option to use ADB commands.
This option lets you choose an application for debugging purposes. The selected application might be built to use with tools which are used by developers to make sure their app runs as intended.
Wait for debugger option will be greyed out until you set an app to debug. After setting up and selection, it prevents the chosen application from starting until the debugger is attached.
The Store logger data persistently option is used to select the type of log messages you want to keep persistently on the device. You will see various options such as ‘off,’ ‘all,’ ‘all but radio,’ and ‘kernel only’ under this setting.
You can use this option to fake the current GPS location of the device to test if your app behaves the same in different demographics. To use this option, you will have to download and install a GPS mock location app. To make the best use of this feature, you can download a lot of apps on Google Play Store.
Enabling view attribute inspection will check views’ attributes in Android System Manager. Recording view attribute information in the mAttributes member variable will be helpful for debugging. If you do not want this information in your logcat, you can turn off this option.
This option lets Google scan applications you installed via ADB for malicious behavior which is a good security measure.
The USB configuration is the option to specify how you want the PC to identify the device. You can configure it for charging only, to transfer files (MTP) or to transfer pictures (PTP.) Selecting the default mode is good, but you don’t connect your device just for charging, there’s could be a different reason as well. That’s why Android shows you a popup or a notification while you connect. You can click on it and select the mode in which you want.
You can use this option to select the profile version you want to use for controlling all of your Bluetooth A/V equipment to which your device is connected.
This option is to adjust the sound quality of your devices by selecting suitable codecs. Available options are SBC, AAC, aptX, aptX HD and LDAC.
It can adjust the number of audio samples per second by selecting an audio codec sample rate. Higher sample rates will require more resources.
You can set the number of bits of information in each audio sample with this option. With a higher the bit rate, the sound will be better, but the sample file will be more significant.
You can choose between Mono and Stereo with the help of this option. This option is for the sound enthusiasts who might want to test with different audio channel modes.
This option will optimize the sound to increase audio quality. It can also balance audio and its connection quality.
This setting will activate configuration controls for Wireless Display certification to the specifications outlined in the Wi-Fi Alliance Wi-Fi Display Specification option.
The WiFi verbose logging is an advanced logging mechanism that increases the Wi-Fi logging level for each wireless network (SSID) you are connected. It records logs according to relative received signal strength (RSSI.)
The WiFi to cellular handover option is for quick switching between Wifi and Mobile data. When the Wifi signal is low, this option will make the connection more efficient by handing over the data connection to a cellular network.
Select this option to see a visual cue on the phone screen when and where a touch was registered. Enabling this option will bring a round signal on the screen. Many people who record the screen on their Android device find this helpful, as it shows the ‘Taps’ in the video, thereby making navigation more comfortable for the viewer.
Ever studied graphs in the mathematics class? The Pointer location option places information bar at the top of the phone screen and shows screen coordinates of the last place the screen was touched. A lot of App developers study this to find out the areas of their apps which were untouched.
It makes the edge of a system dialog box flash when its contents are updated.
This marks the edges of your app’s clip bounds, margins, and other UI constructions on the device.
This forces device screen orientation for the right to left language support.
The Window animation scall will set the speed for window animation playback. Set a lower number for faster animation and vice versa.
The Transition animation scale is just like the Window animation scale, but it is responsible for transition animation playback. Set a lower number for faster animation.
This setting will allow developers to simulate different screen sizes to check compatibility of their apps with different displays.
This option is used to change the color scheme of the entire device UI. The options given in this setting refer to types of color blindness.
This setting will change the default Open GL graphics engine to the Open GL Skia graphics engine.
This setting forces application to use hardware 2D rendering if they were written not to use it by default.
With the GPU view updates option, any view that drawn with the GPU hardware gets a red overlay.
The Debug GPU overdraw will display color-coding on your device so that you can visualize how many times the same pixel has been drawn in the same frame. This option lets you see when and where this is happening, so you will know if it is an issue.
Graphics rendering is considered as drawing in canvas, and this option will turn off the clipping area on it to create unusual (non-rectangular) spaces. By default, the clipping area prevents drawing anything outside the bounds of the circular clipping area.
This option forces multi-sample anti-aliasing (MSAA). More AA makes things look better but worsens the performance.
Without a hardware overlay, every application that displays anything on the screen will share video memory. It also would need to continually check for collision and clipping to render a proper image. It costs a lot of processing power. With a hardware overlay, the application gets its portion of video memory. It can get rid of the need to check for collision and clipping.
This is to disable automatic routing to external audio devices connected to a PC through a USB port.
This option can either draw a graph on the screen or write it to a file. The chart is a visual rendering of how the GPU is working.
The Background process limit allows a custom value of how many processes can run in the background at once.
The ShortcutManager rate-limiting option is used during testing to check background apps can continue to call shortcut APIs until the rate limit is reached again.
Enabling this option will ‘force close’ everything when you leave an application’s main view. So if you come out of WhatsApp, it’ll turn off the the application once you are out.
On Android 4.1 and lower, the Developer options screen is available by default. On Android 4.2 and higher, you must enable this screen.
Note: On some devices, the Developer options screen might be located or named differently.
At the top of the Developer options screen, you can toggle the options on and off, as shown in figure 1. Keep this on. When off, most options are disabled except those that don't require communication between the device and your development computer.
Before you can use the debugger and other tools, you need to enable USB debugging, which allows Android Studio and other SDK tools to recognize your device when connected via USB.
Enable USB debugging in the device system settings under Developer options. You can find this option in one of the following locations, depending on your Android version:
Tap Quick settings developer tiles to add selected developer options to your Quick Settings panel.
Once you select one or more of the available tiles, shown in figure 2, open the Quick Settings panel and tap the pencil to enter edit mode. Then, drag the developer tiles from the tiles pane onto the Quick settings panel, and tap the pencil again to exit edit mode.
Other general options include the following:
Debugging options provide ways to configure on-device debugging and to establish communication between the device and your development computer.
Enable USB debugging, as shown in figure 3, so your Android device can communicate with your development machine through Android Debug Bridge (adb). The Wait for Debugger option is unavailable until you use Select debug app to select the app to debug. If you enable Wait for Debugger, the selected app waits for the debugger to attach before it executes.
Other debugging options include the following:
Networking options provide ways to configure Wi-Fi and DHCP settings.
Tap Select USB Configuration to specify how you want the computer to identify the device. As shown in figure 5, you can configure devices for charging only, to transfer files (MTP), to transfer pictures (PTP), to use your mobile internet on the PC (RNDIS), or to transfer audio or MIDI files.
Tap Bluetooth AVRCP version and select the profile version you want to use to control the Bluetooth A/V equipment your device has access to.
Additionally, to fine-tune audio playback on the device, tap and set the following options:
The followng list describes other ways to configure Wi-Fi and DHCP setup:
Enable Show taps to display taps when you touch the screen. A circle appears under your finger or stylus and follows you as you move around the screen. A tap works like a pointer when you record a video on your device.
Enable Pointer Location to show the pointer (tap) location on the device with cross-hairs. A bar appears across the top of the screen to track the cross-hair coordinates, as shown in figure 6. As you move the pointer, the coordinates in the bar track the cross-hair location and the pointer path draws on the screen.
Drawing options provide visual cues about the app's user interface and how it operates.
Enable Show Layout Bounds to show your app's clip bounds, margins, and other user interface constructions on the device, as shown in figure 7.
Other drawing options include the following:
Hardware-accelerated rendering options provide ways to optimize your app for its target hardware platforms by leveraging hardware-based options such as the GPU, hardware layers, and multisample anti-aliasing (MSAA).
Tap Simulate color space to change the color scheme of the entire device UI. The options refer to types of color blindness. The choices are:
If you take screenshots in a simulated color space, they appear normal, as if you didn't change the color scheme.
Some other ways to leverage hardware-based options are the following:
Set Disable USB audio routing on to disable automatic routing to external audio devices connected to a computer through a USB port. Automatic routing can interfere with apps that are USB-aware.
In Android 11 and higher, when an application without RECORD_AUDIO permission uses UsbManager to request direct access to a USB audio device with audio capture capability (such as a USB headset), a warning message appears asking the user to confirm permission to use the device. The system ignores any "always use" option, so the user must acknowledge the warning and grant permission every time an app requests access. To avoid this behavior, your app should request the RECORD_AUDIO permission.
App options help you understand how your app operates on the target device.
Tap Background process limit to set the number of processes that can run in the background at one time. Possible settings are shown in figure 10.
Tap Reset ShortcutManager rate-limiting during testing so background apps can continue to call shortcut APIs until the rate limit is reached again. For more information about shortcuts and rate limits, see ShortcutManager.
On Android 4.1 and lower, the Developer options screen is available by default. On Android 4.2 and higher, you must enable this screen.
Note: On some devices, the Developer options screen might be located or named differently.
At the top of the Developer options screen, you can toggle the options on and off, as shown in figure 1. Keep this on. When off, most options are disabled except those that don't require communication between the device and your development computer.
Before you can use the debugger and other tools, you need to enable USB debugging, which allows Android Studio and other SDK tools to recognize your device when connected via USB.
Enable USB debugging in the device system settings under Developer options. You can find this option in one of the following locations, depending on your Android version:
Tap Quick settings developer tiles to add selected developer options to your Quick Settings panel.
Once you select one or more of the available tiles, shown in figure 2, open the Quick Settings panel and tap the pencil to enter edit mode. Then, drag the developer tiles from the tiles pane onto the Quick settings panel, and tap the pencil again to exit edit mode.
Other general options include the following:
Debugging options provide ways to configure on-device debugging and to establish communication between the device and your development computer.
Enable USB debugging, as shown in figure 3, so your Android device can communicate with your development machine through Android Debug Bridge (adb). The Wait for Debugger option is unavailable until you use Select debug app to select the app to debug. If you enable Wait for Debugger, the selected app waits for the debugger to attach before it executes.
Other debugging options include the following:
Networking options provide ways to configure Wi-Fi and DHCP settings.
Tap Select USB Configuration to specify how you want the computer to identify the device. As shown in figure 5, you can configure devices for charging only, to transfer files (MTP), to transfer pictures (PTP), to use your mobile internet on the PC (RNDIS), or to transfer audio or MIDI files.
Tap Bluetooth AVRCP version and select the profile version you want to use to control the Bluetooth A/V equipment your device has access to.
Additionally, to fine-tune audio playback on the device, tap and set the following options:
The followng list describes other ways to configure Wi-Fi and DHCP setup:
Enable Show taps to display taps when you touch the screen. A circle appears under your finger or stylus and follows you as you move around the screen. A tap works like a pointer when you record a video on your device.
Enable Pointer Location to show the pointer (tap) location on the device with cross-hairs. A bar appears across the top of the screen to track the cross-hair coordinates, as shown in figure 6. As you move the pointer, the coordinates in the bar track the cross-hair location and the pointer path draws on the screen.
Drawing options provide visual cues about the app's user interface and how it operates.
Enable Show Layout Bounds to show your app's clip bounds, margins, and other user interface constructions on the device, as shown in figure 7.
Other drawing options include the following:
Hardware-accelerated rendering options provide ways to optimize your app for its target hardware platforms by leveraging hardware-based options such as the GPU, hardware layers, and multisample anti-aliasing (MSAA).
Tap Simulate color space to change the color scheme of the entire device UI. The options refer to types of color blindness. The choices are:
If you take screenshots in a simulated color space, they appear normal, as if you didn't change the color scheme.
Some other ways to leverage hardware-based options are the following:
Set Disable USB audio routing on to disable automatic routing to external audio devices connected to a computer through a USB port. Automatic routing can interfere with apps that are USB-aware.
In Android 11 and higher, when an application without RECORD_AUDIO permission uses UsbManager to request direct access to a USB audio device with audio capture capability (such as a USB headset), a warning message appears asking the user to confirm permission to use the device. The system ignores any "always use" option, so the user must acknowledge the warning and grant permission every time an app requests access. To avoid this behavior, your app should request the RECORD_AUDIO permission.
App options help you understand how your app operates on the target device.
Tap Background process limit to set the number of processes that can run in the background at one time. Possible settings are shown in figure 10.
Enable view attribute inspection: This allows you to inspect views in applications using the Layout Inspector in Android Studio, which can come in handy while developing apps.
