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Accessing Developer Options on New Android Devices
Sep 19, 2014
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One year ago, I purchased a Nexus 5 and I've loved the device dearly since then. The phone runs smoothly and the battery life is stellar. Yesterday, I wanted to transfer some files from my phone to my laptop, running Linux, but I had a little difficulty doing it. As I did research online, I discovered that I needed to activate "USB debugging" in order for my files to successfully transfer. I remembered from my previous Android phone that this setting was located within "Developer Options", so I looked for such options on my Nexus 5.
I was left scratching my head, as they were nowhere to be found within Settings.
Now I had to research where my precious Developer Options had gone. I soon discovered that these options needed to be "activated", but thankfully the process was quite simple. All I had to do was navigate from Settings to About Phone and then click "Build Number" 7 times. (See Image). Developer Options were then visible when I navigated to the top level Settings.
This experience begs the question: Why did Google decide to "hide" Developer Options in its latest version of Android? I have done a little bit of investigation, but I can't find any official documentation from Google explaining why they made such a move. I have only been able to find speculation across various tech forums, and the general consensus is that Google did this for "safety reasons". If this is true, it does make sense to hide these settings from the general population because most people will never need them, and accidentally messing with these settings can potentially be harmful to the device. What do you think? Did Google make a smart move hiding something the vast majority of people will never use? Or, do you think all options should be out in the open? Leave a comment below!
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