For example, if you have several music players installed, you should choose a default app for opening all your music files. While setting this up is easy, a lot of Android users don’t know how to change the default app once it has been set. Continue reading to find out how you can easily change the default app settings on your Android phone.
Why Change The Default App?
There can be several instances where you might want to change your default app.
There’s a better alternative available on the Google Play Store. If there’s an app that provides a better experience, then you should make it your default app. You’re tired of using the same old app. For instance, if you’ve been using your phone’s stock music player for a long time, you might be interested in switching to the Google Play Music app for a different user interface. The current default app is having problems after the update. For example, your browser might start crashing after the update.
Method 1: Default Method For Changing App Settings
This is the easiest way for setting up a new default app and clearing its settings in order to choose a different default app. You’ll be able change your default app in just several seconds and you don’t need to install any third-party apps from the Google Play Store.
Step 1
In order to set up the app, open any file for which you want to set up the default app. For example, if you want to set up a default app for your music, open any audio file from your file manager. If you have more than one music app installed, you’ll see a Complete action using popup. Select the the app that you want to use and tap on Always. If you select Just once, the app will not be set as the default app. The same applies with videos and web page links. If you want to set up a default launcher, press the Home button and you’ll get the Complete action using popup.
Step 2
For removing the default app, go to Applications or Application manager in your Settings app and select the app that you previously set up as the default app. For example, if you want to remove Google Chrome as the default app, select Chrome from the app list.
Step 3
Scroll down to the Launch by default tab and tap on Clear defaults. That’s it! You have successfully removed the app as your default app.
Step 4
Follow Step 1 in order to set up another default app.
Method 2: Default App Manager
This method uses a third-party app from the Google Play Store for changing your default apps. The app doesn’t bring a totally new way for changing your default apps, but it simply makes using the stock method a bit easier. The app features a simple user interface for easy navigation and offers various different categories for selecting default apps, including audio, videos, browser, launchers, emails and messages. If you’re interested in changing default apps frequently, then this might be the perfect app.
Step 1
Download and install Default App Manager on your Android tablet or smartphone. You can get the app through the Google Play button below.
Step 2
Open the app and go to the category for which you want to set or change the default app. For example, if you want to change the default app for all your music files, go to the Audio category.
Step 3
Once you go to a category, you’ll see all the apps installed for opening files from that category. In order to set up a default app, tap on the Set Default button.
Step 4
Select the app that you want to set as the default app in the Complete action using popup and tap on the Always button. The default app will now be set.
Step 5
For removing a default app, go to the category for which you want to remove the default app and tap on the Clear Default button.
Step 6
You’ll now be taken to the App info screen. Scroll down to the Launch by default tab and tap on Clear defaults.
Step 7
For setting up another default app, follow Step 2, Step 3 and Step 4.
Conclusion
Android devices can do almost everything that most PCs can do and I personally don’t have any problem with using my Android phone as my PC other than the lack of a full keyboard. While the Android operating system offers so much, there can be complications as well, especially if you have a lot of apps installed. A while back, I was also having problems with changing default app settings for my web browser and if you’ve been facing the same problem, then you can use any of the methods above in order to set up and change your default apps. Once you do this a couple of times, you’ll get used to it and changing default apps will only take a couple of seconds. Make sure that you follow all the steps properly on how to change default app settings on Android and feel free to shoot any questions in the comments section below.
