How to Change Default Apps in Android Nougat

BY GreenBot Staff

Published 30 Sep 2016

One of the Androids’ strengths is that you can choose a default app for specific actions. You can enable any third-party browser, SMS app, phone, or home screen launcher, to be the default app for those actions. The process for changing this has been nicely re-packaged with Android Nougat. To find these controls, go to Settings > Apps.
From here touch the cog to get to the default apps section.

Then, touch the cog at the top of the screen. You’ll see a section labeled Default within the Configure apps area.

All the default apps are inside of one, easy-to-find section.

There are four different types of apps for which you can set a default; home, browser, phone, and SMS. Touch SMS, for example, and you’ll see different choices. To change to one of these, select the new option.

Switch your SMS app to the one that you want.

You can make the exact change for the phone, browser, or home app, also known as a launcher. When you use one of these apps for the first time. It’ll ask if you want to make it the default. So if you change your mind, this is where you need to go to switch things around.