Settings data
The Buried Settings Index: how deep every setting hides
Every setting published on this site, in one table, with the full path to it and the number of taps that path takes. 93 settings, 18 apps, every path verified.
The Buried Settings Index tracks 93 distinct settings across 18 Android apps, and 57 of them sit four or more taps below the screen you start on.
The average setting in the index is 4.0 taps deep, and the deepest are 6 taps: a tie between 7 settings in Facebook, Reddit and Snapchat.
Spotify files Canvas 5 taps in under Videos and Canvas, and Android files Dark theme 3 taps in under Display & touch.
A tap here is a step in a path. It counts the menus you cross once you already know the route. It does not count the wrong turns, the back button, or the search box you try first, which is where the real time goes.
Where the settings sit
3 of the 93 settings are reachable in two taps or fewer. 57 take four or more. The shape of that distribution is the whole problem: the settings people most want to change are not the ones sitting near the top of a menu.
The index
Grouped by app, apps ordered by how many settings they bury, settings ordered deepest first. 20 of these appear on more than one settings profile, so they are listed once here.
| Setting | Where it hides | Taps deep |
|---|---|---|
| Android System | ||
| Delete advertising ID | Settings → Google → All services → Ads → Delete advertising ID | 5 |
| Notification sounds per app | Settings → Notifications → App Notifications → (app) → Sound | 5 |
| Bluetooth scanning | Settings → Location → Location services → Bluetooth scanning | 4 |
| Color correction | Settings → Accessibility → Color and motion → Color correction | 4 |
| Flash notifications | Settings → Accessibility → Flash notifications → Camera flash | 4 |
| Mono audio | Settings → Accessibility → Audio adjustment → Mono audio | 4 |
| Outline text | Settings → Accessibility → Display size & text → Outline text | 4 |
| Remove animations | Settings → Accessibility → Color and motion → Remove animations | 4 |
| Remove Animations | Settings → Accessibility → Color and motion → Remove Animations | 4 |
| Usage & diagnostics | Settings → Google → All services → Usage & diagnostics | 4 |
| Wi-Fi scanning | Settings → Location → Location services → Wi-Fi scanning | 4 |
| Window / Transition / Animator Duration scales | Settings → System → Developer Options → Drawing | 4 |
| Adaptive brightness | Settings → Display → Adaptive brightness | 3 |
| Dark theme | Settings → Display & touch → Dark theme | 3 |
| Do Not Disturb | Settings → Modes → Do Not Disturb | 3 |
| Extra Dim | Settings → Accessibility → Extra Dim | 3 |
| Night Light | Settings → Display & touch → Night Light | 3 |
| Per-app notifications | Settings → Notifications → App Notifications | 3 |
| Reduce Bright Colors | Settings → Accessibility → Color and motion | 3 |
| Smooth Display / High refresh rate | Settings → Display → Smooth Display (or Motion smoothness) | 3 |
| Touch sounds / Vibrate on tap | Settings → Sound & vibration → Vibration and haptics | 3 |
| Online status | Settings → Privacy → Last Seen and Online → Who can see when I'm online | 4 |
| Theme | Settings → Chats → Theme → Dark | 4 |
| About visibility | Settings → Privacy → About | 3 |
| Group chat notifications | Settings → Notifications → Group notifications | 3 |
| Groups | Settings → Privacy → Groups | 3 |
| Last Seen | Settings → Privacy → Last Seen and Online | 3 |
| Last Seen and Online | Settings → Privacy → Last Seen and Online | 3 |
| Media Auto-Download | Settings → Storage and Data → Media Auto-Download | 3 |
| Profile photo visibility | Settings → Privacy → Profile Photo | 3 |
| Read Receipts | Settings → Privacy → Read Receipts | 3 |
| Activity status | Profile → ☰ Menu → How others can interact with you → Messages and story replies → Show activity status | 5 |
| Activity status (online visibility) | Profile → ☰ Menu → How others can interact with you → Messages and story replies → Show activity status | 5 |
| Data Saver | Profile → Settings → Account → Cellular data use → Use less data | 5 |
| Mentions | Profile → ☰ Menu → How others can interact with you → Tags and mentions → Who can @mention you | 5 |
| Message requests | Profile → ☰ Menu → How others can interact with you → Messages and story replies → Message requests | 5 |
| Stories in messages | Profile → ☰ Menu → How others can interact with you → Sharing and reuse → Stories in messages | 5 |
| Activity from other businesses | Settings and activity → Accounts Center → Your information and permissions → Activity from other businesses | 4 |
| Quiet Mode | Profile → Settings → Notifications → Quiet Mode | 4 |
| TikTok | ||
| Activity status | Profile → ☰ → Settings and privacy → Privacy → Activity status | 5 |
| Profile views | Profile → ☰ → Settings and privacy → Privacy → Profile views | 5 |
| Suggest your account to others | Profile → ☰ → Settings and privacy → Privacy → Suggest your account to others | 5 |
| Targeted ads | Profile → ☰ → Settings and privacy → Ads → Targeted ads | 5 |
| Who can send you direct messages | Profile → ☰ → Settings and privacy → Privacy → Direct messages | 5 |
| Data Saver | Profile → ☰ → Settings and privacy → Data Saver | 4 |
| Disconnect advertisers / Clear activity | Settings and privacy → Ads → Disconnect advertisers / Clear activity | 3 |
| YouTube | ||
| Dark theme | Profile picture → Settings → General → Appearance → Dark theme | 5 |
| Ad personalization | Profile picture → Settings → Privacy → Google ad settings | 4 |
| Pause Search History | Profile picture → Settings → Manage all history → Controls | 4 |
| Pause Watch History | Profile picture → Settings → Manage all history → Controls | 4 |
| Playback in feeds | Profile picture → Settings → General → Playback in feeds | 4 |
| Autoplay next video | Profile picture → Settings → Autoplay | 3 |
| Notification frequency | Profile picture → Settings → Notifications | 3 |
| Spotify | ||
| Canvas | Profile picture → Settings and privacy → Content and display → Videos and Canvas → Canvas | 5 |
| Autoplay | Profile picture → Settings and privacy → Playback → Autoplay | 4 |
| Listening activity | Profile picture → Settings and privacy → Privacy and social → Listening activity | 4 |
| Playlist privacy | Profile picture → Settings and privacy → Privacy and social → Public playlists | 4 |
| Recently played artists on profile | Profile picture → Settings and privacy → Privacy and social → Recently played artists | 4 |
| Tailored ads | spotify.com/account/privacy | 1 |
| Active status | Menu → Settings & privacy → Settings → Audience and visibility → Active Status → Show when you're active | 6 |
| Autoplay | ☰ (top left) → Settings & privacy → Settings → Preferences → Media → Autoplay | 6 |
| Who can send you friend requests? | Menu → Settings & privacy → Settings → Audience and visibility → How people find and contact you → Who can send you friend requests? | 6 |
| People with your email address | Menu → Settings & privacy → Settings → Audience and visibility → How people find and contact you | 5 |
| People with your phone number | Menu → Settings & privacy → Settings → Audience and visibility → How people find and contact you | 5 |
| Chrome | ||
| Preload pages | Chrome → ⋮ → Settings → Privacy and security → Preload pages | 5 |
| Third-party cookies | Chrome → ⋮ → Settings → Privacy and security → Third-party cookies | 5 |
| Theme | ⋮ → Settings → Theme → Dark | 4 |
| Discover / news feed | New tab → Customize → Hide feed | 3 |
| Snapchat | ||
| Location (Snap Map) | Profile → ⚙ → Settings → App & Privacy → My Privacy & Data → Who Can See My Location | 6 |
| View My Story | Profile → ⚙ → Settings → App & Privacy → My Privacy & Data → Who Can View My Story | 6 |
| Who Can See Me In Find Friends | Profile → ⚙ → Settings → App & Privacy → My Privacy & Data → Who Can See Me In Find Friends | 6 |
| Contact Me | Profile → ⚙ → Settings → App & Privacy → Contact Me | 5 |
| Telegram | ||
| Last Seen & Online | Settings → Privacy and Security → Last Seen & Online | 3 |
| Who can add you to groups | Settings → Privacy and Security → Invites | 3 |
| Who can find me by my number? | Settings → Privacy and Security → Phone Number | 3 |
| Who can see my phone number? | Settings → Privacy and Security → Phone Number | 3 |
| Chrome + GitHub Mobile | ||
| Discover / news feed (new tab) | New tab → Customize → Hide feed | 3 |
| Site notification permissions | Settings → Site settings → Notifications | 3 |
| Notification filter (GitHub Mobile) | Notifications → Filter | 2 |
| Autoplay Video Previews | Avatar → ☰ → Settings → Accessibility → Media & animations → Autoplay Video Previews | 6 |
| Community recommendations | Profile → Settings → General | 3 |
| Trending posts | Profile → Settings | 2 |
| Slack | ||
| Non-essential channel notifications | Settings → Notifications → Channel-specific notifications | 3 |
| Notification schedule | Settings → Notifications → Set a notification schedule | 3 |
| Show images and files from linked websites | Preferences → Messages & Media → Show images and files | 3 |
| Google Maps | ||
| Timeline | Profile picture → Your Timeline → ⋮ → Location & privacy settings → Timeline | 5 |
| Web & App Activity | Profile picture → Settings → Location and Privacy → Web & App Activity | 4 |
| Active status | Settings → Visibility → Manage active status | 3 |
| Profile viewing options | Settings → Visibility → Profile viewing options | 3 |
| Netflix | ||
| Autoplay next episode | My Netflix → ☰ → Manage Profiles → your profile → Autoplay next episode | 5 |
| Autoplay previews | My Netflix → ☰ → Manage Profiles → your profile → Autoplay previews | 5 |
| Discord | ||
| Activity Status | You Bar → avatar → ⚙ → Activity Privacy → Share my activity | 5 |
| X (Twitter) | ||
| Video autoplay | Settings and privacy → Accessibility, display, and languages → Data usage → Video autoplay | 4 |
Renamed and moved
Depth is only half of why a setting is hard to find. The other half is that the setting you are looking for may not be called what it was called last year, or may not be where it was. Every entry below is a rename or a move recorded while verifying the paths in the table above.
- YouTube Muted playback in feeds
- YouTube dropped "Muted" from the label. The control is now Playback in feeds, with three choices rather than a switch: Always on, Wi-Fi only, Off. The behavior it governs never changed.
- Snapchat Quick Add
- Retired for Find Friends. The control that decides who gets suggested your profile is now Who Can See Me In Find Friends, so guides written before the rename send you looking for a menu item that is not there.
- Telegram Groups & Channels
- The screen that decides who can add you to a group is called Invites on Android. Groups & Channels is the iPhone label, which is why the menu so rarely matches the instructions.
- Android Night Light
- On Pixel 10 it sits one level deeper, under Comfort filters. Samsung calls its equivalent Eye comfort shield and files it directly under Display.
- Google Maps Location History
- Google retired the name for Timeline. The setting still exists and still records where you go; the menu item the old name points at does not.
- Facebook Off-Facebook activity
- Renamed, then retired. The controls that disconnected individual businesses or cleared the history no longer exist, which makes every guide describing them unfollowable.
- Chrome Ad privacy
- The submenu was removed in Chrome M150, stable on 2026-06-30. Ad topics, Site-suggested ads, and Ad measurement went with it, and repointing at Android’s equivalent does not help: the same retirement covered Chrome and Android together.
- Android Do Not Disturb
- It moved to Settings then Modes when Modes shipped, leaving both Sound & vibration and Notifications. Samsung did not follow: on One UI it stayed under Notifications.
- Android Touch sounds
- Renamed Tap & click sounds around Android 14, and filed under System sounds & vibrations. The sound is the same one.
None of these were announced to the people who had already found the setting once. That is the ordinary condition of a phone: you learn a path, and the path quietly stops being true.
Common questions
What does "taps deep" mean in this table?
Each step in a path is a tap. Settings, then Display & touch, then Dark theme is three. The number in the Taps deep column counts the steps in the path exactly as published, so a setting listed at 6 takes 6 deliberate taps once you already know where you are going. Finding it without knowing takes considerably more, which is the part no table can measure.
Why do the paths in older guides stop working?
Because the settings move and the labels change, usually without an announcement. YouTube dropped "Muted" from Playback in feeds. Snapchat retired Quick Add for Find Friends. Google retired Location History for Timeline. Chrome removed the Ad privacy submenu outright in M150. A path written a year ago can name a screen that no longer exists, and nothing tells the reader that is what happened.
Which app buries its settings the deepest?
Facebook, Reddit and Snapchat share the record at 6 taps. By volume the deepest pile is Android System, with 21 settings in the index and a deepest path of 5 taps. Depth and volume are different problems: one setting at 6 taps is hard to reach, and 21 settings scattered across separate menus is hard to finish.
TrueTo is built to walk paths like these for you, and it arrives setting by setting rather than all at once. Every path in the table above is verified, and every setting stays individually reversible.
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The average setting in this table is 4.0 taps from where you start. The average person looking for it does not know that, which is why they stop looking.