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An easy way to remove oddball toggles from the Android 5.0 Quick Settings menu

Accidentally enabled the Hotspot or Invert Colors feature in Android 5.0 Lollipop? You may have noticed two new icons in the Quick Settings menu. Here's how to get rid of them.

Dan Graziano Associate Editor / How To
Dan Graziano is an associate editor for CNET. His work has appeared on BGR, Fox News, Fox Business, and Yahoo News, among other publications. When he isn't tinkering with the latest gadgets and gizmos, he can be found enjoying the sights and sounds of New York City.
Dan Graziano
2 min read

Watch this: Rid your Android quick settings menu of oddball toggles

The release of Android 5.0 Lollipop brought a new look to the Android operating system. One area that saw improvement was the Quick Settings menu and Notifications bar. A simple swipe down from the top of the screen reveals notifications from texts, emails and other apps, while a second swipe lets you quickly adjust the brightness and turn on things like Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and Airplane mode.

The default screen in the Quick Settings menu shows toggles for eight options: Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, network connection, Airplane mode, Auto-rotate, Flashlight, Location and Cast screen. When you turn on the Hotspot feature or (heaven forbid) the Invert Colors option a new icon will appear in this menu.

android-5-quick-settings.jpg
Sarah Tew/CNET

These new icons can be annoying, especially if you accidentally inverted your colors. The toggle icons will automatically disappear from the Quick Settings menu after 30 days of inactivity, but you don't have to wait that long. An easy to fix to remove these is to roll the calendar back a month or more, toggle the setting on and then back off, and reset the calendar.

This can be done on stock Android by going to Settings, selecting Date & time, unchecking the automatic time and date box, and clicking on Set date. Choose the same date from a month ago and toggle the icon you want to get rid of (either Hotspot or Invert Colors) on and off. Then all you have to do is recheck the box to use network-provided date and just like that those annoying icons will have vanished.