Google changed the behavior of the Quick Settings panel in Android 5.0 Lollipop. Now you can swipe down from the top of the screen to view notifications, and then swipe down a second time to reveal Quick Settings with toggles for WiFi, Bluetooth, cellular data, and more.

But there are a few things you might not know about the new Quick Settings panel unless someone told you… because they’re very useful, but not necessarily obvious.

Quicker Settings

The first trick lets you get to the Quick Settings panel more, well… quickly. Instead of pulling down from the top of the screen with a single finger twice you can pull down once by using a two-finger swipe.

quick settings 5This brings up Quick Settings right away, with any available notifications showing up below the bottom row.

WiFi, Bluetooth, and Cellular settings

Tapping on the WiFi or Bluetooth icons will turn WiFi or Bluetooth on or off. But what if you want to view the list of available WiFi networks or Bluetooth devices?

You could tap the gear icon to open the full settings menu and then navigate to the WiFi or Bluetooth settings.

Or you could save some time and just tap the text below the icons in the Quick Settings panel. Tapping the name of the WiFi network you’re connected to will bring up a list of available networks. If WiFi is disabled, this will take you to the same menu… but obviously you won’t see a list of networks until WiFi is enabled.

You can also tap the name of your cellular network below the cellular data toggle. This won’t let you switch to a different network, but it will show you how much mobile data you’ve used during the current billing period.

mobile data

Have any other Android 5.0 tips or tricks? Feel free to let us know in the comments!

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7 replies on “Android 5.0 Quick Settings tricks”

  1. Hi, the same trick with the short cut to the settings works when you hit the account icon in the top right corner. Here you can quickly switch from your account to a guest account.

  2. Swiping down with 2 fingers to bring quick setting panel worked for me in 4.4 too, HTC one.

    1. Just tried it on a Nexus 4, and yes, two-finger swipe does this on 4.4 there as well. I wish I had known this before now.

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