POCO India has recently launched its latest flagship smartphone, POCO F4 5G featuring a fast Snapdragon 870 SoC, 67W Sonic fast charging, and a 64 MP OIS camera. Aside from its primary highlights, it runs on the MIUI 13.0.3 operating system based on Android 12 and it packs some great features, many of which are handy for your daily use. Here are some of the best and most useful POFO F4 5G tips, tricks, features, and quick shortcuts for you. Take a look at them step by step below.

POCO F4 5G Tips, Tricks, Quick Shortcuts, and Features

1) Screenshot Using Three Fingers

Love to take screenshots? Not just you, there are still many people out there who rely on the power button and the volume down button to take screenshots, but know that taking screenshots using its three fingers gesture is the easiest way to take screenshots on your smartphone without a doubt. 

By using the three-finger gesture, you will be able to take screenshots much easier and more conveniently. All it takes is just three fingers that you have to swipe on the screen from upwards to downwards.

To take screenshots, just swipe on the screen using three fingers from top to bottom. This feature is turned on by default, however, you can disable or re-enable it from the settings on your phone.

• Go to Settings -> Additional Settings -> Gesture Shortcuts -> Take a screenshot.
• Turn on the Slide three fingers down slider.

2) Lock Apps With Your Fingerprints

Do you wonder what happens when your smartphone is unlocked for a few seconds when you are not around? It can compromise the security and anyone with the device can access your apps and your critical data inside.

Whether you have an added fingerprint, pin, passcode, or any other security, no matter what, an unlocked phone can give intruders access to your smartphone. Securing your phone with fingerprints is one of the essential things for you, but securing the apps with the same fingerprints adds a layer of security on top. So, whenever your smartphone is unlocked, the apps are still secured with fingerprints. This can be done in the MIUI interface and it’s a great feature for many of you.

Lock apps with fingerprints and secure them so that the next time you open the app, it asks you for fingerprint authentication. If someone tries to access any app on your smartphone when it’s unlocked, a fingerprint authentication will still be shown to unlock the app.

To start, set up the fingerprint scanner and then you can proceed to lock apps with fingerprints.

• Head to the Security app on the homescreen or Settings -> App Lock and choose turn on App Lock.
• Select the apps you want to lock with the fingerprint scanner.

If you haven’t yet add a fingerprint scanner, add one from the Settings -> Passwords & security.

Now put your finger on the scanner to unlock it the next time you open a locked app.

3) Customize the POCO Launcher

You can customize the homescreen and the interface, it comes with a custom POCO launcher instead of the MIUI’s stock that you might have seen on Xiaomi, Redmi and Mi branded smartphones. With POCO launcher customizations, you can change the system background, icons, and layout, as well as manage app categories, and notification badges.

• To customize the launcher and the interface, head to the Settings -> Home screen and here you can find the required options and settings for your personalization.

4) Add Installed Apps On The Home Screen

Unlike the stock MIUI interface, the POCO Launcher, by default, comes with an app drawer, you are more likely to use it as all the apps are inside and not on the homescreen. Android originally has an app drawer and you can see it in the stock interface, but some manufacturers have tweaked the UI to make it simple for users. Thankfully, the POCO Launcher has it, but what if you want to use only the homescreen icons without the drawer? The launcher doesn’t let you choose between the App Drawer style UI or the simple UI (without the drawer), but you can still add the apps’ icons on the homescreen when you install them, all with a simple tap.

If you wish to keep the installed app icons on the homescreen and use them to access the apps, here’s what you can do, follow these steps.

• Go to Settings -> Home screen -> Home screen -> Add installed apps to the Home screen automatically.
• Install any apps from the Play Store and see the icons added to the homescreen automatically.

Now go back to the homescreen and access the apps that you have installed.

5) Double Tap To Lock Screen

Locking the phone using the power button requires you to make a little effort, what if you can just double-tap the screen to lock the device? This shortcut is one of the convenient ways and can be handy at times. To lock the phone using a double-tap gesture, head to the following.

• Head to the Settings -> Home screen -> Double tap to lock screen.

Now tap twice on the screen on the empty area on the homescreen to lock the phone.

6) Lock Home Screen Layout

Ever happened to you that some icons on your phone are missing or apps and folders you have organized are messed up by mistake and you have to re-arrange and re-add them. If you want to keep your homescreen layout intact, there’s an option in the Settings that you can switch to.

• Go to Settings -> Home screen -> Home screen -> Lock Home screen layout.

Once you have turned On this option, the apps, widgets, and folders on the homescreen cannot be moved, changed, or removed.

7) Make Use Of Dark Mode

Just like most Androids do, the POCO F4 5G also offers a dark mode by default and it’s now built into the Android natively, not just the MIUI, the result is rather more system-wide.

The Dark Mode is very useful for people who use smartphones in darker environments. The Dark Mode changes the current theme into darker colors to ease your eyes off during the night and prevent Eye Strain. It also helps save the battery life with AMOLED displays, and thankfully, POCO F4 5G does equip an AMOLED panel.

Here’s what you need to do to turn on the Dark Mode on your POCO F4 5G.  

• To turn on the dark mode, go to Settings -> Display and choose Dark mode.

You can try more dark mode options below which allows you to individually set the dark mode for apps as well as adjust the wallpaper to dark mode as well as text and backgrounds. You can also try the dark mode scheduler to schedule dark mode as per your needs.

8) View Real-Time Internet Speed

No wonder if your smartphone has the fastest internet modems or 5G support, your internet service provider decides how fast the connection is, and when it doesn’t deliver the desired speeds, you are all left with a slow download or stream.

To know if you are facing slow internet speed on your phone, check the real-time internet speed in the status bar and see if you really are getting slow internet speeds or if there is anything in the background that’s hogging your data. You can also view the actual speed of the internet in real-time while downloading files or streaming videos. Here’s what you have to do.

• Head to Settings -> Notifications & control centre -> Status bar
• Turn on the Show connection speed slider.

Check the status bar and notice the real-time speed indicator working while you surf the net.

9) View Battery Percentage In The Status Bar

Just like you view the internet speeds, you can also view the battery percentage in the status bar. You get a quick switch in the MIUI that adds a percentage next to the battery icon so that you can easily check on the remaining battery. Several Android smartphones do not have the battery percentage enabled in the notification bar, you have to manually turn it on. The POCO F4 5G already offers a percentage inside the battery icon, but you can put the percentage outside the battery icon as well.

• To view the battery percentage in the status bar, simply go to the Settings -> Notifications & control centre -> Status bar and tap on the Battery indicator, choose the desired option to enable the battery percentage slider.

10) Hide The Hotch

The POCO F4 5G comes with a notch on the top side, it has an in-screen selfie camera that might hinder your video experience, if you don’t like the notch on the phone, you can simply hide it. If that dot is going to interrupt your videos or photos interrupt while you are watching, why not get rid of it using a quick setting on your phone? 

Head to the Settings -> Notifications & Control Centre -> Status bar -> Hide notch and choose the option Hide without moving the status bar.

You will see the notch is gone in seconds the moment you select the setting. You can again modify it if you change your mind.

That was about some best POCO F4 5G tips and tricks for you. There are still more that you find on the phone, just try to spend time in the settings, apps, and interface, and you will be surprised. To know more about the smartphone, check out our full review of the POCO F4 5G.