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This $29 bundle is your ticket to a side hustle Amazon business

AndroidGuys
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We live in an era where anyone can turn their side gig or passion into a career. It’s not uncommon for people to put a few hours into a hobby for a few months and then watch it quickly blossom into a budding, revenue generating business.

One such way is by selling through Amazon FBA; plenty of folks are starting to turn to the platform as a side hustle that can pull in thousands per month.

If this is something sounds appealing to you, or if you’re looking to pick up a little extra cheddar in passive manner, listen up. There’s a great kit in the AndroidGuys Deals Store which is designed just for you.

SEE ALSO

Called the Complete Amazon FBA A-Z Bundle, it’s 27 hours of expert instruction over more than 350 lessons. Included in the training are all of the tools and education one might need to start a side business of selling on Amazon.

Not only do you get the broad strokes helpful in getting going, but there are more niche lessons, too. Do you sell your own items or work with existing listings? How do you market? How do you identify potential products to sell?

Amazon FBA A-Z Bundle Includes:

  • A Beginner’s Guide to Merch By Amazon
  • Work From Home: Amazon FBA MasterPlan
  • Build a Profitable Amazon FBA Store Without Private Labeling
  • Amazon Traffic, Sales & Marketing for Sellers & Affiliates
  • Amazon FBA: From No-Experience to Launching Your First Product
  • Merch Micro Niche Blueprint
  • How to Create a Word Cloud T-Shirt Design
  • How To Create a Shape-Based T-Shirt Design
  • How to Create a Text-Based T-Shirt Design
  • Merch By Amazon T-Shirt Design for Non-Designers
  • T-Shirt Business & Design Strategies
  • The Merch Motivated Masterclass
  • How to Make a Passive Income with an Amazon Affiliate Store

Get Started

All of this is yours for just $29 right now, or just pennies on the dollar. Normally valued at around $2,700 for the training, the limited time deal knocks it down some 98 percent.

Best Sellers

Save even more!

For every $25 you spend in the AG Deals Store you get $1 credit added to your account. And, if you refer the deal via social media or an email that results in a purchase, you’ll earn $10 credit in your account.

First Time Buying?

If this is your first time buying, you are also eligible for 10% discount! Just be sure to subscribe for email updates.

Free Stuff

Not looking to spend any money today? No worries. You can still visit the AndroidGuys section for freebies and pick something anyhow.

Opinion: Netflix needs an ad-supported plan

Jason England
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I know what you’re thinking, Netflix with ads? No way!

If you’re like me, one of the main reasons you subscribe to Netflix, besides the brilliant originals, is the fact that there are no ads.

Netflix is a company, and it is beholden to the stockholders and investors, both of which expect to see continued growth. The problem is, continuous growth is hard to maintain. That’s why there are several reasons Netflix should have an ad-supported plan, and it probably will in the future.

Competition

For years, Netflix has remained largely unchallenged, save for the recent surging in Hulu and Amazon Prime. Thus far no one has been able to match Netflix in high-quality original programming and sheer number of subscribers.

Things are about to change though, several other streaming networks are currently in the process of launching, including Disney+, NBCUniversal, HBO Max, and Apple TV+.

Once these streaming services are competing for your dollar, you’re going to have to ask yourself some important questions. Which has the best price? Which offers the best value? Which has the content that I want to watch most? In some cases, Netflix could see itself losing subscribers as they opt for other services.

Exclusive content

Along with competition comes exclusive content. NBCUniversal has already announced that The Office, perhaps the most popular property on Netflix, will leave the service in 2021 to join its NBCUniversal’s service as an exclusive title.

HBO Max is also expected to pull Friends, the second most streamed show from Netflix by the end of 2019. Then, of course, we can’t forget Disney, which will ultimately pull all of its content (Disney, Pixar, Star Wars, and Marvel) content from the service.

Once all the studios begin splitting up and dividing content to try to carve out their own piece of the streaming pie, content will be king. Netflix stands to lose a lot of valuable programming.

Pricing

It’s no secret that Netflix continues to go up in price, and it feels to be doing so quicker than ever. How long will it be able to justify further price increases after it begins to hemorrhage content?

We all love Netflix originals like Stranger Things, Orange is the New Black, and Black Mirror. But, once we have to spend money on competing services for exclusive content, will there be enough in our budgets to keep a Netflix subscription active?

Ad-supported plans are popular

We all hate ads, but facts show, people are willing to suffer through them for content. Whether it be internet radio, websites, or streaming services such as Hulu, we willingly trade off advertisement for media.

According to Hulu, 70% of its 82 million subscribers pay for the ad-supported plan. That’s nearly 60 million Hulu subscribers opting for the cheaper ad-based option.

An overwhelming majority of it users would rather pay a little less and suffer through ad-breaks, instead of splurging a few extra bucks to remove them.

Ads are the future

If Netflix hopes to compete against increasing number of streaming services, and doesn’t want to lose market share, something has to give.

Most likely the only way it will be able to continue making great content, and keep its subscriber count up, is by offering a more affordable tier that includes ads.

The internet will no doubt throw a fit when it eventually happens. But no worries, Netflix will have an ad-free plan for all of them.

Five photo backup alternatives to Google Drive

Andrew Allen
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Google Photos has dropped its automatic syncing of your pictures to Google Drive. While the Photos app will continue to backup your photos, it will no longer save them in your network storage with Drive.

I don’t personally see this as an issue, but many will want an integrated app for both. Fortunately, with Android choice is king and there are some solid apps that offer this functionality. We’ve compiled a short list of some favorites that are available on Google Play.

We know there are more photo only apps that allow for this, but we chose to focus on apps that offer cloud storage and photos integrated into the same application.

Amazon Drive & Photos

Amazon Prime is a great service for all of us who spend online. It also offers pretty competent cloud storage included with that same subscription. With that, you get unlimited online storage for your photos for no extra charge.

You will have to sign up for an Amazon Drive plan and this starts at 100GB of storage for $11.99 per year. Maxed out at 1TB it’s just $59.99 annually. These caps are unaffected by the photos you upload. Overall, you get nice storage for your files and your photos in one service.

Prime members who are not already invested in as many Google apps should definitely give Amazon Drive a look in the Play Store. Check out the Amazon Photos app if you just want an alternative to Photos backup.

Box

Box app is one of the original online storage options. It keeps a good parity with competition in terms of both options and pricing. You can upload files, documents, and photos into your Box online vault.

With the Capture feature you can automatically have your photos backed up to your Box account. You can then edit, share, and access your favorite pics whenever and wherever you’d like.

The storage tiers come with one positive and one negative. There’s a free option that caps you at 10GB of data, but the downside is you can only upgrade up to a maximum of 100GB of storage at $10.

Box is an oldie-but-a-goodie in this space, the Android app is robust, and the service is available for desktops as well. Unfortunately, they do not offer a Linux version.

Mega

Mega was super popular a few years back in the Android community, but it seems to have lost its allure of late. Despite the fall in popularity, Mega is still a solid online storage option. However, it still has a great feature set and flexible pricing.

Two things really stand out with Mega: the number of tiers and end-to-end encryption. The tiers start at free with 50GB of data all the way up to 8TB for $33.76 per month. That’s an incredible amount of options when you consider 200GB thru 4TB tiers in between, all of which include photo backups.

Overall, Mega is a solid option. It offers multiple tiers for users to choose from and supports all the major desktop and mobile platforms.

Dropbox

Dropbox is another grand-daddy in the cloud storage family. The company has been around since 2008 and many still consider it the gold standard for file storage on the go. Dropbox has a strong history of both stability and consistent updates to its platform, making it a strong contender.

While the free tier is not great at just 2GB of storage, for $11.99 you can get a full 2TB with Dropbox’s Plus package. Or, take it further with the Professional plan at 3TB of data and real-time team tools such as shared docs and Dropbox Showcase.

From the free tier up, you get photo backups for all your pics. Just like Google Drive/Photos, your photos are almost instantly saved to your shared folder in Dropbox. The app offers a great alternative to Drive and Photos with a really well thought out application and platform support.

OneDrive

And then there’s Microsoft. The original tech giant has shifted towards software in recent years. The once king of computers lost its footing in mobile to Android and iOS so, to combat this, the company has started to offer top-tier apps instead. One such is its version of an online vault called OneDrive.

OneDrive is a strong offering in the online storage market as Microsoft comes with years of server experience to offer both performance and stability that people trust. All OneDrive plans offer photo backup for the likes of our comparison. Much like the rest, you toggle a setting and photos from your phone will automatically be backed up to your OneDrive.

OneDrive tiers start at free with 5GB of data while you can upgrade to 100GB for $1.99 per month. This gets you only storage, but if you really want to get crazy you can integrate with Office 365 and 1TB for $69.99 a year.

If you have a small office or want to expand to the whole family you can give 6 folks the same 1TB a piece for $99.99 a year. The app is well-reviewed on Google Play and is free to download.

How to set up your personal Voice Match for Google Assistant

Andrew Allen
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Google is amazing with data; it’s kinda its thing. One of those things it does almost better than everyone else in mobile is voice data. This is due to a few things, but one of those is your Voice Match data.

Google has been collecting data from voices for years. If you’ve used voice dictation, search, or voice-to-text, yours has been collected, too. With this data, it has built a profile of how you speak and the patterns you use. Voice Match sets all those patterns to the physical sound of your voice to a profile that will allow Google AI to recognize only your voice.

Once this is set up, Google can almost immediately recognize it’s you on all of your Google devices. This will allow you to shout commands for anything from Google Searches to playing your favorite tunes on Spotify or Pandora.

How to make it work

This is a pretty quick set up that requires digging into Google Home settings a bit.

  • Open your app drawer and find the Google Home app and select it
  • Tap the Account button with the “person” in a circle to the bottom right
  • Verify which account you want to use
  • Choose the Settings then More Settings
  • Select the Assistant tab at the top
  • Click Voice Match
  • Follow the steps on the screen
  • To hear sensitive information like calendar appointments or text you must turn on and agree to Personal results.

Hello, Jarvis!

You have successfully created your Voice Match profile. You should now have your own personal connection to you Google Home devices as well as your smartphone. This includes the Google Home speakers, Android TV devices, and all the great Hub devices from Nest.

What are you waiting for? Start shouting at all the things in your home!

T-Mobile offering free smartphones with new lines

AndroidGuys
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Getting a phone on a discount is nice, but you know what’s even nicer? Free ones. Knowing this, T-Mobile is currently offering a number of devices for free to customers who sign up for its Magenta rate plan or higher.

SEE ALSO: Samsung refreshes Galaxy A series of phones for US

There are five models of smartphones on the list right now, each of which might be a good options for the back-to-school crowd. Four of them are already available and one of them comes to T-Mobile in just a few days time.

All that’s required to get one of these phone for free is to sign up for a $40 Magenta or higher rate plan. The cost of the phones come in the form of a bill credit that’s applied each month over the span of two years.

With a savings of up to $200 each phone, a family of four can get up to $800 in free devices. Customers will still have to pay the $40 per month for each device, but free phones never hurt, right?

New phones at T-Mobile

You might be interested in the Samsung Galaxy A10e even if you’re not adding a line of service. It’s a pretty solid mid-range affair that won’t break the bank. Moreover, the Samsung Galaxy A20 is also headed to T-Mobile on July 26, too.

The Samsung Galaxy A10e is priced at $0 down and $7.30/month for 24 months, or a full retail price of $175. The Samsung Galaxy A20 is available at $10/down and $10/month over 24 months with its full retail price at $250. Note this is for well-qualified customers on T-Mobile’s no-interest Equipment Installment Plan (EIP).

Join the elite ranks of cyber security and IT pros for just $39

AndroidGuys
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For all the differences found in countries like America, Russia, and China, there’s one thing that is becoming increasingly important for all of them – cyber security. They, like any and all other countries around the world, are in dire need of professionals in the space.

Take, for instance, this report from China Daily who advises:

Data from the Cyberspace Administration of China last year suggested the country currently lacks more than 700,000 cybersecurity professionals. That number is expected to double by 2020.

You can imagine it’s just as important here in the US with all of the looming threats of cyber warfare, election interference, and other privacy concerns.

Everybody needs help, so training such as The A to Z Cyber Security & IT Certification Training Bundle is vital. Right now, AndroidGuys Deals has slashed the price on this collection down to just $39, over 97 percent off the regular price.

This package brings together 12 courses including more than 114 hours of training that covers all approaches to cyber security and IT, including ethical hacking, SQL injection, penetration testing, cloud security, and much more.

Not only does the bundle offer nearly 900 lessons, but it’s also designed to help you pass critical tests the first time you sit. The 12 courses featured include:

  • Ethical Hacking From Scratch to Advanced Techniques
  • GSEC Certification: Security Essentials
  • The Art of Exploitation Course
  • SQL Injection
  • The Complete Ethical Hacking Certification Course
  • CISSP Exam Preparation Training Course
  • Penetration Testing & Ethical Hacking Project from A to Z
  • Certified Cloud Security Professional: CCSP
  • CISM: Certified Information Security Manager
  • CISA: Certified Information Systems Auditor
  • CompTIA Security+ Certification
  • CompTIA CSA+ & Certified Cyber Security Analyst

Availability

Normally valued at more than $1,400 for the full collection, AndroidGuys readers can snag the deal for just $39 right now. That’s a dozen courses for just over $3 a piece.

Best Sellers

Save even more!

For every $25 you spend in the AG Deals Store you get $1 credit added to your account. And, if you refer the deal via social media or an email that results in a purchase, you’ll earn $10 credit in your account.

First Time Buying?

If this is your first time buying, you are also eligible for 10% discount! Just be sure to subscribe for email updates.

Free Stuff

Not looking to spend any money today? No worries. You can still visit the AndroidGuys section for freebies and pick something anyhow.

How set a priority device on Google WiFi

Andrew Allen
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We all love our streaming. Video, audio, real-time, and on-demand, we constantly want to consume content. While the convenience of streaming is amazing, it takes a lot of resources, mainly bandwidth. This can be extremely hard on your home network.

Make it a priority

Fortunately, most router systems have a setting to name a certain device on your network to get the lion’s share of the internet. This prioritization can make it so that your Netflix streams don’t buffer or console gaming doesn’t lag. Google WiFi is not different and the app makes it super simple to create priority devices.

Despite its simplicity, it is a few menus deep in the UI. Let us show you how to make it happen.

How to turn it on

This will give you incremental settings to set a priority device on Google WiFi. During this time the selected device will receive more of the internet resources from your mesh network than any other connected unit.

  • Find your Google WiFi app and open it
  • Hit the devices button on the main screen
  • Click the green button at the bottom right (Shows a computer with a star)
  • Tap the internet-connected device you want to be the priority
  • Select the drop-down to create a time frame between 1,2, and 4 hours
  • Make sure to hit Save at the top right

Priority Set!

There you go! You should now have your favorite home device set for priority over your network. This will allow you to avoid the dreaded buffer bug the next time you and the family sit down to enjoy the movie of the week.

During that time the priority unit will be at the top of the internet chain inside your local network, hopefully alleviating those bandwidth issues. You can also go back to the Devices list in Google WiFi at any time inside your set window to cancel the device priority.

Harmony Express Remote review

Jason England
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As an avid user of smart assistants and a home theater geek, I’m a big fan of anything that can combine the two. In the past, I’ve reviewed the Logitech Harmony Companion and Logitech Harmony Elite.

I enjoyed both of them for different reasons and loved the option to use voice commands with either Google Assistant or Amazon Alexa. That’s why I couldn’t wait to get my hands on Logitech’s new Harmony Express which actually has Alexa built directly into the remote.

Hardware

The Logitech Harmony Express bundle comes with the remote, a hub, and an IR blaster. One of the best things about the Harmony remotes is the combination of a wireless remote and hub.

Instead of using an infrared emitter on the remote to communicate with your various devices, the Logitech remote connects wirelessly to the hub which sends out the IR signals.

This allows you to use the remote at greater distances and without requiring line-of-sight to the devices themselves. You can place the hub almost anywhere, even behind cabinets and use the IR blaster to extend its range or to get around obstacles such as shelves.

Remote design

I really enjoy the feel and shape of the Harmony Express remote. It’s a minimal, lightweight remote with backlit buttons that feels good in hand and is easy to hold and operate. While Harmony Express doesn’t offer a lot of buttons, those provided are the most important.

Almost every button pulls double duty, allowing a second action performed by long pressing. Several of the buttons can even be customized in the Harmony Express app, giving more advanced users a way to make the remote work the way they want it to.

The microphone worked great during the past few weeks as I put it through its paces and the tiny speaker puts out a lot of volume. Actually, it put out a little too much volume. Even though the app allows you to adjust it, I found that on the lowest level it was still too loud for my tastes.

Setup

Upon getting a universal remote the first thing you have to do is set it up. Some are easier than others, but no matter what, it’s going to take some work. Logitech uses a dedicated app for the Harmony Express which is different from the one for the Companion or Elite remotes.

In my opinion, the new app is more streamlined and less complex and has a better overall design. It does a good job auto detecting some smart devices such as my Roku TV or a Roku box in another room. For the most part, however, you’re going to have to spend some time looking up model numbers for your various home and audio equipment.

App

If you’ve used the Logitech Companion or Elite in the past, then you may or may not enjoy the new app. It’s really hard to say, because it’s so different. It offers far less advanced options, but provides a more simple layout and design.

The Harmony Express drops many of the advanced features such as creating your own activities, such as assigning a button or voice command to turn on your TV, receiver, Roku, and open up Netflix all at once.

Instead, it opts for a more simplistic approach and tries to group together devices, making the remote less flexible and less complicated to set up.

How well does it work?

Let’s start off with what the Harmony Express does well. The Alexa integration on the remote works very well. It always hears me properly and I don’t have any issues where I needed to repeat myself.

Long pressing the button to activate Alexa without using the hot word was very convenient, and it makes me wish I had a dedicated button for this with other smart speakers. It was so nice to not have to repeat “Alexa” over and over, and took one less step out of controlling the TV with a digital assistant.

Another benefit of having Alexa built into your remote is that it can do much more than just control your TV. Want to know the weather, the weight of the moon, add pickles to your shopping list, check on your recent Amazon order, or control your lights? The remote can do it all,

It can also play music through its tiny speaker. However, similar to most third-party Alexa devices, the Harmony Express doesn’t support calling, announcements, or drop in.

Now, despite having a great design and a capable digital assistant built in, most of the time I found myself frustrated by the Harmony Express. You might be wondering, if Alexa works so great on the remote, what’s the problem?

Well, the simple fact is, the commands available are very limited. With the Harmony Express, you can power the TV on/off, adjust the volume in 5-step increments, mute the TV, change channels by name or number, open a selection of apps, and play/pause or fast forward and rewind media.

The Harmony Express also won’t support doing a chain of commands, such as turn on the TV and open Netflix, or open Hulu and turn the volume up.

If you were hoping you’d be able to search for movies and TV shows by the title, actor, or director like Android TV boxes or the X1 cable box, then you’re going to be disappointed.

Even more problems arise when you jump back and forth between your cable box and smart TV apps. While Harmony Express had no issues opening Netflix, Hulu, or Vudu, it simply refused to open Plex or Google Play Movies. Not only that, but due to the simplicity of the remote, there was no way to open the home screen on the TV to access the app.

I even tried programming the home screen button for the TV into the remote, only to be disappointed. It seemed that the arrow buttons were still assigned to the cable box; I could not navigate the TV. That left me forced to reach for another remote, use the Harmony Express app, or use voice commands to open one of the supported apps. Or, maybe just exit it and open Plex instead.

Battery

I am not a fan of remotes that require regular charging. Even with the Harmony Elite only needing a charge every few days, I still found it frustrating when I’d forget.

The Harmony Express was a huge surprise because, even after using it for the past four weeks, it has still not required charging. That’s pretty impressive for a remote that is mainly used for voice controls and one that includes buttons with back-lighting.

Final Thoughts

In the end, the Harmony Express is a product that is more defined by what it cannot do than what it can do. It would be best suited for people who have a very simple home theater setup and can more easily deal with the limited voice commands and buttons on the remote.

In my opinion, asking $250 for what little the remote can do is not worth it though. If you’re looking for a much better and cheaper smart home remote solution, I would recommend picking up the Harmony Companion with an Echo Dot or Google Home Mini instead.

Not only is this setup cheaper, but it’s far more flexible. You’ll get all the same great voice commands with a much more capable remote. Plus, it’s cheaper to buy both of these than it is to buy the Harmony Express. You’ll save even more money if you already have a smart speaker.

Availability

You can learn more about the Harmony Express at the Logitech website where it’s also available to purchase for $250. It’s also offered at Amazon and Best Buy.

The best cheap Android phone ever was quietly announced this week

Matt Adams
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“Good phones are getting cheap and cheap phones are getting good.”

It’s a popular saying that quite a few in the tech YouTube crowd have been spouting for years now. Many give credit to Marques “MKBHD” Brownlee for popularizing the phrase, but plenty have repeated it since.

The ultra-premium device market is going strong with $900+ phones from LG, Sony, Apple, and Samsung. At the same time, there are a ton of compelling options from OnePlus, Huawei, and others which offer a premium flagship experience that doesn’t break the bank.

The most interesting part of the Android ecosystem, for me at least, has always been in the shallow end of the pool. The current entry-level and mid-tier devices offered from the likes of Motorola, Nokia, Huawei, and others give customers compelling options without spending an entire paycheck (or more).

Cheap cell phone plans that use the Verizon network

This week brought news of the most recent refresh of Nokia’s low-end device, the Nokia 2. While not the cheapest device the company offers, it offers a great balance of specs, performance, design, and cost-efficiency that few others do. With the new Nokia 2.2, I think we are looking at the best inexpensive Android device ever to hit the market.

We covered the device in depth here, but here are the cliff notes: 5.71-inch LCD display with a notch, 13 MP main + 5 MP front-facing cameras, 3 GB of RAM, 32 GB of storage, and Android 9 Pie via the Android One program.

What excites me the most are the inclusion of hardware features that have been around forever, but may have been long-since forgotten. The Nokia 2.2 features a microSD card slot, a 3.5mm headphone jack, and a removable battery. Yes, a phone with a removable battery is coming to market in 2019. I can barely contain my excitement.

The Nokia 2.2 is only $140 so you give up some creature comforts here. There’s no fingerprint scanner, and instead of a USB C port, we get the older micro USB standard. Honestly, I’m fine with that.

A fingerprint scanner is nice, and something that I’m now used to, but I can live without it. Since this device is pointed at the low-end of the market, I think it’ll be in the hands of a lot of first time owners who won’t really miss it.

Yeah, not having USB C does suck, but I still have a ton of micro USB cables laying around the house. Many of the speakers and other accessories I own charge via micro USB so it’s not that big of a deal.

Cheap phones are getting better and better with each release and I think the Nokia 2.2 is a new high point.

Other phone makers like Motorola who have made their name in inexpensive devices might want to take note of where Nokia cuts corners – and where it still delivers.

We don’t expect the cameras to be anything to write home about, but just fine for social media. There’s no glass back here, but a harder-to-damage body that will stand up to damage over time resides.

Stock Android should run just fine on the entry-level MediaTek A22 processor, and with two years of software updates and three years of security updates, it’ll see upgrades well into 2022. That’s pretty great for $140.

The worst thing about the Nokia 2.2? The wait. Announced in the middle of July, the device won’t hit store shelves at Best Buy or Nokia’s website until August. We’ll be waiting with bated breath.

How to enable dark mode in YouTube

Jason England
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When it comes to watching videos, a bright white background can be distracting and isn’t often ideal. That goes for TV, monitors, and mobile devices. When YouTube finally rolled out its dark theme, it gave us all a reason to rejoice.

Unfortunately, the dark theme isn’t enabled by default, but it’s not that hard to turn on. Just follow these steps below, and you can enjoy all your favorite YouTube videos with a pleasing dark background.

How to enable dark theme on a computer.

  1. Open the YouTube homepage.
  2. Click on your profile icon in the top right corner to access the flyout menu.
  3. Select Dark theme.
  4. Toggle the dark theme on or off.

How to enable dark theme on a mobile device.

  1. Open the YouTube app.
  2. Tap on your profile photo in the top right corner.
  3. Choose Settings.
  4. Tap on General.
  5. Toggle Dark theme on.

Now, that you’ve enabled the dark theme you can say goodbye to that blinding white flash every time you open up YouTube and get back to enjoying your videos.

Read More: Paint it black: Android Auto gains dark mode and new UI

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