[Tip] Enable Hidden Secret Features and Menus in Samsung Galaxy Smartphones

If you have a Samsung Galaxy mobile phone or Note series phablet, this tutorial can help you in enabling many hidden secret features and menu options in your smartphone which might be very useful for you. Some of these hidden secret features and options are as following:

• Enable built-in voice call recording feature
• Enable option to turn off Camera shutter sound
• Enable extra “Call” icon in call logs list for direct calling
• Enable new “Call/Message Block” feature
• Enable “Exit” option in Browser
• Enable “Rotate” option to manually rotate images in Gallery
• Enable “Floating Messages” or “Air Message” feature
• Show hardware version in “About device” page
• Set “Desktop Site View” as default in Browser
• Show Browser user agent version in Settings
• Force alphabetical order as default view for apps list in Launcher
• Disable phone number formatting in Dialer screen
• Disable Anti-malware feature in Smart Manager program
• Disable Software Update option in Settings
• Enable Wi-Fi calling and camera during calls feature
• Enable option to schedule messages sending
• And many more

Related: Hidden Secret Codes for Samsung Galaxy Mobile Phones

Actually Samsung disables many features and menu options in its devices based on the country and region. Some of these features are built-in features of Google’s stock Android OS and some features are exclusive to Samsung’s own firmware installed as a layer on stock Android in its devices. For example, in some countries you may already have native option to record voice calls in your Samsung Galaxy cell phone but in many countries, this option is not available.

Which option and feature should be enabled or disabled in a Samsung Galaxy device is decided by a system file present in the firmware files of the device. We can modify this system file and manually enable all or some of these hidden secret features and options in our device.

This system file is actually a part of CSC (Consumer Software Customization) program which is used by Samsung to show/hide specific features and options in its devices based on geographical region and mobile carriers.

If you have a Samsung Galaxy device and ready to activate these hidden secret and very useful features in your mobile phone or phablet, this tutorial will definitely help you.

We have tried this method in Samsung Galaxy S4, S5, S6 mobile phones and Note 3, Note 4, Note 5 phablets successfully. This method should work in all Samsung Galaxy devices.

If you want to enjoy the hidden secret features and options in Samsung Galaxy smartphones and phablets, follow these steps:

STEP 1: Root Your Samsung Galaxy Device

Since we need to modify a system file present in the mobile phone’s firmware, we’ll need to first root the mobile phone. Without rooting the device, this method can’t be used.

If you already have a rooted mobile phone, then move to STEP 2.

If you have not rooted your mobile phone yet, following guide will help you in rooting your mobile phone:

[FAQ] All About Rooting Android Mobile Phones and Tablets

[Guide] How to Root an Android Device?

WARNING: Rooting an Android mobile phone is a risky task and can void the warranty or damage your device. So root your mobile phone only if you are sure and know what you are going to do with your mobile phone.

STEP 2: Install Root Explorer and Text Editor Apps

We’ll also need to install a root explorer app to browse through the firmware folders in our mobile phone just like we browse through files and folders in Explorer in Windows operating system. Also for editing the system file, we’ll need to install a text editor app.

If you already have a root explorer and text editor app installed in your mobile phone, you can move to STEP3.

If you don’t have these apps installed in your mobile phone, you can install following app called “Root Browser” which is a free app and already comes with a built-in text editor, so you won’t need to install any text editor app separately:

Download and Install Root Browser App from Google Play Store

We also used this app in our test mobile phones and it worked flawlessly.

STEP 3: Locate the Required System File to Edit

Now we have installed all required apps and we need to browse through various folders present in the device firmware and find the system file which needs to be edited to enable/disable these hidden secret features.

Open “Root Browser” or your own root explorer app and go to following directory:

In “csc” directory, you’ll find a file “others.xml“. This is the file which we’ll edit to activate hidden secret features.

If you don’t see “others.xml” file, look for “feature.xml” file. Some devices have feature.xml file instead of others.xml file.

If you can’t see any of these two XML files, you’ll need to create the others.xml file manually.

Related: [Tip] Change or Remove Built-in Ringtones and Sounds in Android Smartphone

STEP 4: Modify XML File to Activate Hidden Secret Features

Now you have found the others.xml file, tap on it and it’ll open the file in the installed text editor app. The file already contains some predefined code to customize the availability of the features and options. Most of the times the availability of a feature or an option is decided by a single line of code having a value either true or false.

All code is present between <FeatureSet> and </FeatureSet> tags in the file. So you need to make sure that you add any new code between these two tags. Add the required code either after the opening <FeatureSet> tag or before the closing </FeatureSet> tag in the file.

You have 2 ways to modify the file and enable hidden secret features:

• If the file already contains the required line of code, you can modify it and change its value as mentioned later in this tutorial.
• If the file doesn’t contain required code, you’ll need to add the new code yourself.

For your convenience, we have provided a ready-made text file containing full formatted code to activate and enable some important and useful features. You can download that file, put it on your device, copy the whole text from the file and replace the whole text in others.xml file with the copied code.

Now let’s share the codes which need to be added to the others.xml file to enable these hidden secret features and options:

1. Code to Enable Native Voice Call Recorder Feature

Disclaimer: Please check with local laws related to call recording in your country.

If you activate this feature, you’ll get a new button “Record” in place of “Add new call” button in calling screen as shown in following image:

You can tap on the “Record” button and it’ll start recording the voices of both caller as well as receiver and will save the file in “Call” directory on the SD card.

You can also access the recorded calls by opening call logs screen and tapping on More -> Recorded Calls option as shown in following image:

To activate this feature, you just need to add following piece of code in others.xml file:

Again make sure you add this line either after the opening <FeatureSet> tag or before the closing </FeatureSet> tag in the file.

Save the file. If it asks for root permission, grant the permission. Once the file is saved successfully, reboot the device and now if you try to make or receive a call, you’ll get the call record option.

2. Code to Enable Option to Turn Off Camera Shutter Sound

When you take a picture using Camera of your Samsung Galaxy device, a shutter or click sound is played to notify that the photo has been taken successfully. There is no option provided to turn off this sound and we need to put the mobile phone on Silent mode if we want to mute the Camera shutter sound.

But if you activate this hidden secret feature, you’ll get an extra option to turn on/off Shutter sound in Camera settings as shown in following image:

Just add following code to others.xml file:

Save the file and restart your mobile to take effects.

3. Code to Add New “Call” Icon in Call Logs List for Direct Calling

This is another useful hidden feature. We know that we can swipe an existing entry present in call logs list to the right to direct call that number but if we activate this feature, it’ll add a new small “Call” icon next to each phone number listed in the call logs screen as shown in following image:

It’ll help in direct calling that phone number. Just tap on the call icon and it’ll immediately dial that number.

Just add following code to others.xml file:

Save the file and restart your mobile to take effects.

4. Code to Enable New “Call/Message Block” Feature

This is another extremely useful hidden secret feature. If you activate this feature, it’ll add a new menu “Call/Message Block” under Settings as shown in following image:

Once you open this new option, you’ll get several options to block all or selected phone numbers from calling or sending SMS to your mobile number.

Just add following code to others.xml file:

Save the file and restart your mobile to take effects.

5. Code to Enable “Exit” Option in Browser

It is very useful option which is disabled by default. If you open Browser app in your mobile phone and close the app by using Back button on your mobile phone, the browser app keeps running in background and consumes system resources, battery power as well as your Internet connection (data usage) bandwidth.

If you activate this hidden feature, it’ll add a new option “Exit” in Browser’s More menu as shown in following image:

You can click on “Exit” option anytime you want to terminate Browser app directly without any need to tap on back button several times. Exit option will end task of Browser app and it’ll not run in background.

Just add following code to others.xml file:

Also if you want that Browser should ask for confirmation if you tap on Exit option, you can also add following code:

Save the file and restart your mobile to take effects.

6. Code to Enable “Rotate” Option to Manually Rotate Images in Gallery

If you turn on “Auto rotate” option in your mobile phone and then you open an image and rotate your mobile phone, the image also rotates based upon mobile phone’s position i.e. portrait or landscape. Sometimes this feature might become annoying when you try to see an image from a different angle of your mobile phone but as soon as you rotate the mobile phone, it automatically rotates the image.

If you activate this feature, a new option “Rotate” will be added in the toolbar of image browsing view of Gallery and the image will no longer rotate automatically. It’ll only rotate if you tap on “Rotate” option. The “Rotate” option will remain grayed out in portrait mode but as soon as you change your mobile phone in landscape mode, the “Rotate” option will become available and you’ll be able to tap on it to rotate the image manually as shown in following image:

Just add following code to others.xml file:

Save the file and restart your mobile to take effects.

7. Code to Enable New “Floating or Air Messages” Feature

“Floating Message” or “Air Message” is a new feature of new Samsung Galaxy devices which displays new message in form of a floating window so that you don’t need to close the existing running app and you can directly view or read the message on screen.

With the help of the code given below you can add this new “Floating Messages” option in Settings app as shown in following image:

Just add following code to others.xml file:

Save the file and restart your mobile to take effects.

8. Code to Show Hardware Version in “About Device” Page

This small tweak can add the device hardware version information to Settings -> About Device page as shown in following image:

Just add following code to others.xml file:

Save the file and restart your mobile to take effects.

9. Code to Set “Desktop Site View” as Default in Browser

By default, the Browser app opens a website in Mobile view if supported by the website and if you want to view that website in normal Desktop view, you need to select “Desktop View” option in Browser.

Using this code, you can force the browser to always open websites in Desktop view:

Save the file and restart your mobile to take effects.

10. Code to Show Browser User Agent Version in Settings

If you want to show the Browser user agent version in browser’s Settings -> Advanced page, add following code to XML file:

Save the file and restart your mobile to take effects.

11. Code to Force Alphabetical Order as Default View for Apps List in Launcher

By default Samsung devices show the apps in Launcher in customized order. You can drag-n-drop any app to any desired location. An extra option “A-Z” is shown at top-right corner of Launcher to arrange apps list in alphabetical order.

If you want, you can force alphabetical order as default view for apps list in Launcher. After doing this, the “A-Z” option will also get removed from the Launcher screen and all apps will always be shown alphabetically in the list.

Just add following code to others.xml file:

Save the file and restart your mobile to take effects.

12. Code to Disable Phone Number Formatting in Dialer Screen

When you dial a number in Dialer, the mobile phone automatically starts formatting the number in form of different sets of 3 digits or some other predefined formatting based on the country. If you want to disable this automatic formatting and want to force dialer to show the full phone number without any space or hyphen (-) symbol between digits, then this trick will help you.

Just add following code to others.xml file:

Save the file and restart your mobile to take effects.

13. Code to Disable Anti-Malware Feature in Smart Manager Program

New Samsung Galaxy devices come with a bundled “Smart Manager” program which works like a system and memory cleaner program. It helps you in freeing up disk space and memory amount. The program also comes with built-in anti-malware protection which is turned off by default.

If you don’t want to use Smart Manager’s anti-malware feature, you can completely disable it using this trick:

Just add following code to others.xml file:

Save the file and restart your mobile to take effects.

14. Code to Disable Software Update Option in Settings

Sometimes when you root a mobile phone, your mobile phone may stop receiving OTA (Over-The-Air) updates from the carrier so you can’t update the phone firmware using the built-in “Software Update” option present under “Settings -> About Device -> Software Update“. Basically this Software Update option becomes useless on a rooted device.

If you want, you can remove “Software Update” option from Settings -> About Device page by adding following code to XML file:

Save the file and restart your mobile to take effects.

Restricting “Software Update” option might become very useful if you have customized the firmware of your mobile phone a lot and don’t want anyone to accidentally update your phone firmware without your permission.

15. Code to Activate Wi-Fi Calling and Camera During Calls Features

These features are network dependent. Using following codes you can enable Wi-Fi calling and camera during calls features:

Save the file and restart your mobile to take effects.

16. Code to Enable Option to Schedule Message Sending

If you are using an older firmware on your Samsung Galaxy device and it doesn’t contain option to schedule sending of text messages (SMS), you can activate this feature by adding following code:

Save the file and restart your mobile to take effects.

[BONUS] All Important Codes in Single File for Download

For your convenience, we are providing a text file containing all above mentioned useful codes. You can download this file and copy it to your Samsung Galaxy device. Now open the text file in your device, select all and copy the whole text and then you can replace existing code in your device’s system\csc\others.xml file with the copied text. Save the file and restart your device to take effects.

Download Ready-made Text File Containing Useful CSC Codes

Its a ZIP file so first extract it using a file archive utility such as 7-Zip and then you’ll get the “Codes.txt” text file.

Some More Untested or Not Working CSC Codes

I have found many more CSC feature codes in the firmware of various Samsung Galaxy devices but many of them didn’t work on testing devices. Also I didn’t have enough time to test many of these codes. If you have time, you can try and test these codes in your device. I’m putting some of those CSC codes here which made some sense to me:

You can add these codes one by one, save the file and restart your mobile phone to test the effects.

IMPORTANT NOTE:

Restarting your mobile phone into “Recovery Mode” will reset the XML file to default. So keep a backup of the XML file for easily restoring your customized code. Also if you ever want to restore default options in the XML file, you can restart your mobile in Recovery Mode and it’ll reset the XML code to factory settings. If you don’t know how to boot Android mobile phone into Recovery Mode, check out following tutorial:

Revealing 3 Hidden Secret Modes in Google Android Mobile Phones

That’s all for now guys. If you know about any other working and useful CSC code, you can share it in your comment. I found almost 1000 codes in the firmware but very few of them worked on most of the devices.

Also Check:

• iPhone Tips-n-Tricks and Hidden Secret Service Codes
• Hidden Secret Trick to Reboot Google Android Mobile Phones into Safe Mode
• Hidden Secret Trick to Take Screenshot on Samsung Galaxy and Google Android Devices
• [Tip] 5 Awesome Hidden Secret Features of Samsung Galaxy Mobile Phones
• [Tips] 10 Cool Features of Samsung Galaxy Smartphones to Show Off
• Hidden Secret Easter Eggs and Daydreams in Google Android Devices
• [Tip] Enable Hidden Secret “Developer Options” Menu in Google Android Devices
• [Tip] Enable Hidden Secret “System UI Tuner” Menu in Google Android Devices
• Hidden Secret Codes for Google Android Mobile Phones