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Galaxy S10: First 12 Things You Need to Do

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After you turn on your Galaxy S10 and set it up, there are still a lot of things that you need to do to get it set up right and to take full advantage of the Galaxy S10 and Galaxy S10+ features. Instead of going straight to downloading new apps and using the S10 like you did your old Android phone, there are some steps that you should take. Here are the first things you need to do before you dive into using your new Samsung Galaxy S10, S10+ or S10e.

Here is an overview of the first things you need to when you get your Galaxy S10. This is in addition to getting a Galaxy S10 case to protect your new phone. We have a great roundup of the best Galaxy S10 cases for each of the models.

  1. Set Up Fingerprints and Lock
  2. Set Up Samsung Pay
  3. Set Up WiFi Calling
  4. Put Your Micro SD Card In
  5. Set Up Blue Light Filter & Night Mode
  6. Delete Apps You Won’t Use
  7. Set Up the Always On Display
  8. Customize the Galaxy S10 Theme
  9. Set up Gestures and Navigation Bar
  10. Set Up Do Not Disturb
  11. Set Up Edge Lighting
  12. Turn on Digital Wellbeing

Set Up Fingerprints and Lock

Train your fingerprints the right way.

Train your fingerprints the right way.

If you skipped this during the initial setup, it’s a good time to set up the Galaxy S10 fingerprint reader. This new reader on the S10 and S10+ is under the screen, and it takes some time to get used to. You may also need to re-train this if you set it up on day one, and didn’t install and update first.

  1. Go to Settings.
  2. Tap on Lock screen.
  3. Tap on Screen lock type.
  4. Tap on PIN and add a backup PIN.

When you do this, I recommend turning off the need to hit enter when you finish entering your PIN, but that is up to you. Next you need to set up the fingerprint reader.

  1. On the Screen lock types tap on Fingerprints
  2. Train the fingerprints by following the on-screen training.

If you already trained fingerprints once, you need to go to a different menu to re-train them or to add another fingerprint. To do this;

  1. Go to Settings.
  2. Tap on Biometrics & Security.
  3. Tap on Fingerprints.
  4. Add new fingerprints or remove the existing ones.

Once you get this setup, it will be easier to login to the Galaxy S10. If you have the Galaxy S10e, you can use the fingerprint reader on the side of the device.

Set Up Samsung Pay

Make payments anywhere with Samsung Pay.

Make payments anywhere with Samsung Pay.

Samsung Pay is a better option than using Google Pay because you can make payments at places that only have a standard credit card reader. This is easy to set up and you can make it your default mobile payment option.

In the app drawer find the Samsung Pay icon and tap on it. Now you can connect your credit cards to Samsung Pay by following the on-screen instructions.

Once this is setup, you can swipe up from the bottom of the Galaxy S10 screen to make payments with your phone at almost any place credit cards are accepted.

Set Up WiFi Calling

Turn WiFi Calling on to make and get calls in bad reception areas if you have WiFi.

Turn WiFi Calling on to make and get calls in bad reception areas if you have WiFi.

WiFi Calling is a great feature that lets you make and receive calls on WiFi if your signal is low.

  1. Open the Phone app.
  2. Tap on the three dots in the upper right.
  3. Tap on Settings.
  4. Tap to turn on WiFi Calling.
  5. Enter your address and confirm that you’ve read the warnings.

Once this is done, you can make calls using the WiFi networks you connect to. This is great in big buildings where signal strength is low or even in your basement.

Put Your Micro SD Card In

The Galaxy S10 supports Micro SD cards that allow you to add more storage to your phone. It’s a good idea to put your Micro SD card in now, instead of waiting until you run out of room.

The video above walks you through how to do this, so that you can easily install your Micro SD card and then you can set up the camera to save your photos to it.

Set Up Blue Light Filter & Night Mode

Use Night Mode and the Blue Light filter for a better experience at night.

Use Night Mode and the Blue Light filter for a better experience at night.

The Galaxy S10 features two options that can help with using your phone at night. These are the Blue Light Filter and Night Mode, which change the look of the screen to prevent bright lights at night. It’s a good idea to set these up on a schedule so that you don’t have to turn them on and off all the time. That said, some users may want to leave Night Mode on all the time since it is a cool looking dark option.

How to Set Up Blue Light Filter

  1. Pull down from the top of Galaxy S10 screen.
  2. Pull down again to see more settings options.
  3. Press and hold on Blue light filter.
  4. Tap on Turn on as scheduled.
  5. Choose a custom schedule or sunset to sunrise.

How to Set Up Night Mode

  1. Pull down from the top of Galaxy S10 screen.
  2. Pull down again to see more settings options.
  3. Swipe to the right.
  4. Press and hold on Night Mode
  5.  Tap on Turn on as scheduled.
  6. Choose a custom schedule or sunset to sunrise.

These two settings combined can help you get a good night of sleep even if you decide to use your phone all the way up until you close your eyes.

Delete Apps You Won’t Use

Delete bloatware apps on the Galaxy S10.

Delete bloatware apps on the Galaxy S10.

The Galaxy S10 comes with a decent amount of bloatware in the form of games. You can delete or at least disable these to get room back clean up your app drawer.

  1. Open the app drawer.
  2. Tap and hold on the game or app.
  3. Tap on uninstall.
  4. Tap on OK when prompted to uninstall.

We uninstalled Final Fantasy, Strike Force, Solitaire and a few others. You can pick and choose what you want uninstalled. Keep in mind that some of the apps like Spotify come with a free subscription if you are a new user.

Set Up the Always On Display

Choose your Always on Display options.

Choose your Always on Display options.

The Galaxy S10 supports an Always on Display, and there are a lot of options to configure with it. That’s why we recommend setting it up right when you get your phone.

  1. Go to Settings.
  2. Tap on Lock Screen.
  3. Tap on Always on Display.
  4. Turn it on.

Choose when you want it to display. You can pick from 30 seconds and then tap, always show or show during a specific schedule. You can also choose the screen orientation, if you want music and on the main lock screen settings you can choose the clock style and other settings.

Customize the Galaxy S10 Theme

Customize your Galaxy S10 with a theme.

Customize your Galaxy S10 with a theme.

You can pick a complete theme for the Galaxy S10 that will change the look of your phone. Some of these don’t work completely with Night Mode or the new One UI, but there are some cool options.

  1. Go to Settings.
  2. Tap on Wallpapers and themes.
  3. Tap on themes at the bottom.

Now you can try out and choose some new Galaxy S10 themes. Many themes are free, but you will need to pay a few bucks for some of the themes.

Set up Gestures and Navigation Bar

Change the navigation to gestures.

Change the navigation to gestures.

If you want to use gestures instead of buttons, you can turn on this option in the settings. It gets you a little bit of your screen back and is easy to adjust to.

  1. Go to Settings.
  2. Tap on Display.
  3. Tap on Navigation bar.
  4. Choose Full screen gestures

This is an option that we like, but it’s not for everyone. Try it out and see if it works for you, and if not, go back and turn the buttons back on.

Set Up Do Not Disturb

Control interruptions with Do Not Disturb.

Control interruptions with Do Not Disturb.

One of my favorite things to do on any new phone is configure the Do Not Disturb options. This allows you to avoid late night interruptions from apps as well as messages and calls.

  1. Pull down from the top of Galaxy S10 screen.
  2. Pull down again to see more settings options.
  3. Swipe to the right
  4. Press and hold on Do not disturb.
  5. Tap on Turn on as scheduled and pick a schedule.

Now tap on Allow exceptions and configure any sounds you want to come through and who you want calls and texts from when this is on. You can configure a lot of settings, so you will be able to make sure that this works out for you.

If it is an emergency people on your favorites list can be set up to get through, or anyone that calls twice quickly will ring in.

Set Up Edge Lighting

Turn on Edge Lighting to get cool notifications.

Turn on Edge Lighting to get cool notifications.

The Galaxy S10 Edge Lighting options allow you to see alerts when the phone is face down on a desk or table. You can configure the apps and the types of edge lighting alerts.

  1. Go to Settings.
  2. Tap on Display.
  3. Tap on Edge screen.
  4. Tap on Edge Lighting.
  5. Turn it on and then choose the options you want.

There are a number of styles, colors and apps that you can turn this on for.  This is a cool feature and it’s one we recommend trying out, especially if you haven’t used it before.

Turn on Digital Wellbeing

Track your digital wellbeing with the Galaxy S10.

Track your digital wellbeing with the Galaxy S10.

If you worry about using your phone too much, you can turn on Digital Wellbeing to track your screen time, set app timers and a wind down period at night.

  1. Go to Settings.
  2. Tap on Digital wellbeing.

This will start the tracking and you can also choose options including a Wind down option that will change the screen to grayscale and start blocking notifications to help you get to sleep easier.

15 Best Galaxy S10 Cases Available in 2020

Spigen Neo Hybrid

Spigen Neo Hybrid

Our first Galaxy S10 case recommendation is always something from Spigen. They're the most trusted name in smartphone protection. 

However, this year Spigen completely redesigned it's extremely popular Neo Hybrid case. They've ditched the Herringbone texture and added a neat new "WAVEY" texture that's easier to hold and improves your grip. Which is a good thing considering the Galaxy S10 is bigger than ever before. 

Like always, this case is made from a durable shock-absorbing TPU case material then wrapped in a polycarbonate bumper. Spigen reinforced the frame at each cutout for the buttons or charging port, too, making it the best and most durable Neo Hybrid yet. And yes, the thicker wave design doesn't affect wireless or powershare reverse wireless charging. All the features still work with this case. Buy one today!

Buy it Now on Amazon for $13.99

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