How to set/clear/change app defaults in Android

You already know that you have multiple solutions available for single task on Android. There are several video players, launchers, browsers, and so on. Each of the available app comes baked in with special set of features that could come handy to any of the users.

There are countless number of features offered collectively which is not possible to be incorporated in a single app. So, you will have to regularly switch between similar applications to get a variety of things done. How do you do that when you have already an app set as default?

Can you change the app defaults? Can you clear the defaults? Manually set a default for a specific task? Here, we will get to know on how to set/clear/change app defaults in Android.

How To Set/Change Defaults in Android?

Head to the “Settings” from the app drawer (or the homescreen).
Scroll down to find “Apps” option listed and tap on it.
Now, you will observe all of the installed applications listed. Ignore them and just tap on the gear icon at the top-right corner as shown in the image above.
And, then again, you will find a set of options to choose from, tap on “Default apps“.
Do note that you can set only a limited category of apps as default in this way (Excluding the launcher and the video player). You can set any of the apps as default for messaging, browsing, voice assistance, and phone dialer.

How Do You Set Other Applications (Launchers, Video Players, etc..) as Defaults?

There isn’t a single method to let you do it. But depends on what you want to set as the default one.

If you are looking to make a launcher installed on your device as the default one, you can either head to the targetted launcher’s settings and find “Set As Default” option and then choose the launcher as the default (Always).

In case you recently installed the launcher, simply press the home button and you will be prompted to select the launcher. Tap on the desired launcher with the “Always” option to set it as the default.

Unfortunately, you may not encounter a similar “Set As Default” app in a video player. So, you will have to simply head to the file manager and try launching any of videos available. You will be prompted to set the default video player (by tapping on the player with the “Always” launch option). If you had already set the default, you will have to clear the defaults to be able to make another video player as the default one.

How to Clear Defaults in Android?

Okay, we get it! You may have set an app as the default for a task (a launcher, a browser, and so on.) and later you could regret doing so. What do you do then? How do you launch a different app while another is set as the default already? Can you clear the defaults? Yes, indeed!

Here’s how you can clear defaults in Android:

Steps To Clear Defaults In Android

Go to the “Settings”.
Scroll down to find “Apps“. Tap on it.
Now, you will find several applications listed. You simply need to keep scrolling down till you find the desired app (which you want to get rid as the default app) and tap on it.
Finally, you will observe an option which says – “Open by default” – tap on it. You must be able to see “CLEAR DEFAULTS” option now. Click on it to clear the defaults. You are done!

Wrapping Up

So, now you know how to clear defaults and set defaults in Android. If there’s a friend who needs help with the same, do share this guide to them.

In either case, if you have trouble setting an app as default or clearing the defaults, then do let us know through the comments below.

Ankush Das

Categories: Cellphones

Tags: Android, Apps