What changed in Android settings
By volume, Android reorganises more than anything else in the catalogue. What it rarely does is remove a whole section from the first screen.
The most movement of any system
Across five release pairs, 2,669 settings rows arrived and 2,369 left — 5,038 changes, more than any other system here. The largest single pair is Android 13 to 17: 838 new, 591 gone.
That is a lot of churn for a first screen that barely moved.
Three sections arrived, one left
Added at the top level: Modes, Accounts and backup, Parental controls. Removed: Passwords & accounts.
Modes is the interesting one. It is the same idea that Apple shipped as Focus — Do Not Disturb growing into a set of named states — and it arriving as a first-screen entry says Google expects people to use more than one. Focus modes, and what Do Not Disturb turned into covers how both systems got there.
Passwords & accounts splitting into Accounts and backup plus a separate passwords home is the one genuine removal, and it is really a split.
Renames that change what you search for
| Before | After |
|---|---|
| Unrestricted data | Unrestricted mobile data |
| Adaptive connectivity | Use adaptive connectivity |
| Show conversations, default, and silent | Show silent notifications |
None of these changes what the setting does. All of them change what you have to type to find it, which on a system with this many rows is the difference between finding it and giving up.
All five pairs
13 vs 17 is the big one; the others are in the version comparison index. Open the releases in the simulator: Android 17, 16, 14, 13.
Related: the Android settings guide, iOS vs Android compared, and the cross-system picture.
Try it yourself, on the real menusOpen any of 43 operating systems in your browser and walk the Settings tree exactly as it appears on the device. No download, no account.Frequently asked questions
How much do Android settings change between versions?
More than any other system we measure: 2,669 rows arrived and 2,369 left across five release pairs, 5,038 changes in total. Android 13 to 17 alone accounts for 838 new and 591 gone.
What is the Modes setting in Android?
A top-level entry added in recent releases, holding named states such as sleeping or driving with their own interruption rules. It is Android’s equivalent of Focus on Apple systems, grown out of Do Not Disturb.
Where did Passwords & accounts go?
It was split. Accounts moved into a new top-level Accounts and backup entry, and passwords moved to a home of their own.