(Diagnostics App To Troubleshoot)When Google announced Chrome OS 90 back in April, the company added a brand new Diagnostics app. As expected, the app makes it easy to analyze the best Chromebooks to identify any potential problems that you may be experiencing.

How to use the Diagnostics app on a Chromebook

Performing a diagnostics test was available before Chrome OS 90 was announced, but it required you to view an internal system page. Now, you have a dedicated app that presents different bits of information regarding the battery, CPU, and Memory. Here’s how you can access the Diagnostics app:

With your Chromebook unlocked, click the Time in the bottom right corner.
Select Settings.
Click About Chrome OS.
Select Diagnostics.

Another way that you can access the Diagnostics app is by pressing the launcher key on your keyboard and typing Diagnostics in the search bar. Press the Enter key, and it’ll take you right to the Diagnostics page.

As we stated above, there are three different areas in the Diagnostics app that Chrome OS focuses on. Diagnostics App To Troubleshoot These are your battery, CPU, and Memory (or RAM), and you can perform a series of tests to ensure your Chromebook is running in tip-top shape.

Test your battery

Under the Battery section, you’ll find three different pieces of information for your Chromebook. These are as follows:

Battery health: Battery capacity declines with usage
Cycle count: The number of times your battery has gone through a full charging cycle
Current: The rate at which the device is currently charging or discharging

Below those three sections, there’s a Run Discharge test button. Clicking on that will run a quick battery test, presenting some quick results along with a “Learn More” link. Navigating to this link takes you to the Chrome Help page explaining why a discharge test is useful.

If you have trouble keeping the battery charged, Google suggests there may be an issue with the battery itself or the charging port. And if the problems persist, you’ll have to reach out to either the store that you bought the Chromebook from or the manufacturer directly.

Test the CPU

The next step in this series of diagnostic tests is the CPU. At a glance, you’re shown a moving bar graph based on how much processing power your Chromebook has while the Diagnostics app is open. There are three different pieces of information shown, and they are as such:

Current usage: This is an aggregation of all cores
Temperature
Current speed

It’s not often that you’ll need to test the CPU, but if things are bogged down, you can run a test. Click the Run CPU test button, and then watch as all of your bars ramp up as the test proceeds. This test also takes the longest out of the bunch, so you’ll want to step away from your Chromebook and grab something to drink. By running this test, the Diagnostics app performs the following tests:

Stress
Cache
Floating-point accuracy
Prime search

Provided that everything goes off without a hitch, you’ll see a series of green SUCCESS messages next to each test. If not, you can head over to the Chromebook Help page to learn more.

Run a memory test

Last but certainly not least, the Diagnostics app allows you to keep an eye on the memory or RAM in your Chromebook. You’ll see a basic line graph with a little RAM logo to the left and the amount of RAM being used below the graph.

Just like the CPU and Battery sections, Google has made it possible to run a stress test on the memory. There aren’t any specific results displayed once the testing is completed, other than a “Test succeeded” message at the bottom.

Keep a record of your tests

The Diagnostics app has another nifty tool if you’re trying to nail down and keep track of what’s going on with your Chromebook. Scrolling to the very bottom of the page reveals a “Save session log” button. Clicking on this will provide a basic .txt file, asking you where you want it to be saved.

As you can likely surmise at this point, the Session Log contains the results and information gathered by performing these tests. If you ever need to reach out to your manufacturer, a Session Log may be requested, and this is how you can provide one if needed.

Also Visit addROM.org

(Review App Permissions)In the past, it was much more difficult to determine which Android apps were tracking you or accessing your files. But recent Android versions like Android 11 and Android 12 have added a robust permissions manager and privacy controls to help you better manage your phone’s digital footprint. Determining how to review app permissions on your Android phone will vary based on which OS you’re running, so we’ll break down the necessary steps for each recent version.

Android 6.0 and up: How to review app permissions on Android

Whether you’ve installed the Android 12 beta, are running stock Android 11, or are using a different OS like One UI or OxygenOS, the app permission controls should look the same except for some changes in the language. Here’s how to review app permissions on your stock Android phone running the new OS.

If you want to check global app permissions

1. Open the Settings on your phone.

2. Scroll down to tap Privacy.

3. Then tap Permission Manager.

4. You’ll see how many of your total apps have permission to access specific functions, such as your Camera, Files, or Microphone.

5. Tap any category to see a list of all apps that are Allowed or Not allowed/Denied to access this data.

6. Tap any individual app to see its permissions, then tap Allow or Don’t allow/Deny to change them. Some permissions like Microphone also will let you choose Ask every time instead.

7. On the same page, tap See all (app name) permissions to see and edit its available permissions in all categories.

You’ll be able to change an app’s access to the following data categories:

Body sensors
Calendar
Call logs
Camera
Contacts
Files and media
Location
Microphone
Nearby devices
Phone
Physical activity
SMS

While these controls are available on most of the best Android phones, only Android 12 phones can access the new Privacy Dashboard, which shows a graph that reveals which apps accessed data in the past 24 hours.

If you want to check individual app permissions

Seeing a summary is useful for checking your overall phone habits. But if you’re concerned about a specific app and want to change its permissions quickly, there’s a simpler route than going through the permissions manager:

1. Open the Settings on your phone.

2. In Android 12, tap Apps. In Android 11, tap Apps & Notifications.

3. Select All apps (Android 12) or App info (Android 11) to see an alphabetical list of every app. Scroll through and tap the app in question to see its App Info.

4. Look under Permissions. If it says No permissions granted or No permissions requested, the app can’t see any of your data.

5. If it shows specific permission data, tap Permissions. You’ll see which permissions are Allowed or Not allowed. Tap any specific category to change it to Allow or Don’t Allow/ Deny it to access the data.

6. Back on the main App Info page, scroll down to Unused apps. You can set all your apps to automatically remove permissions if you don’t use it for a certain period.

Review app permissions before downloading

Before downloading an app — especially before paying for one — you’ll want to see what permissions the app will request or require to work properly. Thankfully, the Google Play Store makes these permissions easy to find.

Before Android 6.0, you were unable to change permissions for an app. As a result, the app would require certain permissions when you installed it. While Android experts found a workaround to remove permissions from apps after downloading them, this would often cause the apps to crash as soon as it couldn’t access something it “had permission” for.

Your best bet with an older Android phone is simply to go to Play Store > Developer > Permission details to find out what the app requires. Or, if you’ve already downloaded the app, you could go to Settings > Apps (or Application Manager) > (App name) > Permissions and see what the app requires.

Apps sometimes change their permission requirements after being downloaded. If you have auto-updates enabled, don’t worry; if an app receives an update with changed permissions, you’ll be asked to approve the download first manually.

Our top equipment pick

Google added app permission tools with Android 6, but these tools have only improved with each new release. Android 11 has solid and streamlined menus for managing permissions, but with Android 12, you get new abilities. You can disable camera or mic access for all apps in Quick Settings, and the new Privacy Dashboard and its app permission summary is one of our favorite new Android 12 features.

So consider buying a phone that’ll give you the best that Android 12 has to offer, whether that’s the Pixel 5 or the upcoming Pixel 6. Managing app permissions will become that much easier.