CyanogenMod 12 comes with a plethora of customisation features, some of which are buried deep inside the Settings menu. While these customisation features are what make the OS a favorite among advanced users, they can get downright overwhelming for new users.

We have already highlighted nearly all the major features of CyanogenMod 12 (and CyanogenMod 12.1, to a certain extent) before. In this article, we highlight the top 10 tips and tricks for CyanogenMod 12 that will further improve the experience of using CyanogenMod for users on their device.

Privacy Guard

CyanogenMod 12 (CM11 and CM12.1 as well) come with a built-in Permissions Manager like iOS called Privacy Guard. It provides users with granular control over the different permissions used by every single app installed on their device.

Privacy manager offers a great way to users to prevent poorly coded apps from unnecessarily keeping their device awake or waking it up at periodic intervals thereby leading to a significant improvement in battery life.

For example, preventing Facebook and Google Play Services from waking up the device alone is enough to substantially boost its battery life.

Privacy Guard is located in Settings -> Privacy -> Privacy Guard.

Double tap to sleep

Most Android devices nowadays come with a very handy double tap to wake feature. However, to switch of the screen, users are still required to press the power button, which negates the benefit of the former feature.

In CyanogenMod 11/12/12.1 though, users can simply double tap on the status bar to put the device to sleep. The feature will work even from inside other apps, though it is disabled by default.

To enable double-tap to sleep on CyanogenMod 12, head over to Settings -> Display & lights and enable ‘Double tap to sleep’.

Read: CyanogenMod 12 features walkthrough

Customisable Quick Settings

Just like stock Android, CyanogenMod also features Quick Settings that provides users with quick access to some of their commonly used toggles. To further enhance the stock Android experience though, the ROM also allows users to customise the toggles according to their liking thereby increasing its usefulness.

Additionally, users can add quick shortcuts to not only some of the system settings, but also contacts and apps in CyanogenMod.

To customise Quick Settings to your liking on CyanogenMod 12, head over to Settings -> Notification drawer -> Quick Settings panel.

Trigger System Profiles

Symbian device used to come with a handy ‘Profiles’ feature that allowed users to set different ringtones and sound level for different profiles. Cyanogen bakes in something similar in its ROM under that allows users to set different notification and system sounds, volume level, ring modes, lock screen modes and more.

However, the best part about System profiles feature in CyanogenMod 12 is that it can be automatically triggered when an NFC tag is touched to the handset or when the device is connected to a particular Wi-Fi or Bluetooth network.

The option to trigger a system profile via NFC, Wi-Fi or other methods is found inside the customisation menu of an individual system profile.

Disable lock screen visualiser

With Android 5.0 Lollipop, Google added a beautiful lock screen widget to the OS. CyanogenMod enhanced this feature by adding a live visualiser in the background that certainly looks cooler.

What most new CyanogenMod users don’t know is that this feature can be disabled by default as well. Simply head over to Settings -> Lock screen and disable the ‘Display music visualizer’ option.

Enable Root Access

With CyanogenMod 12, the CM team decided to not enable root access by default. Most new users who install CyanogenMod on their device usually do it for the performance and customisation benefits offered by the ROM and not for root access.

Nonetheless, gaining root access is something that most advanced users do almost immediately after installing the ROM. Thankfully, root access can be enabled on CyanogenMod by simply enabling one particular option.

But before that option can be enabled, the user needs to unhide ‘Developer Options’ by going into Settings -> About Phone and tapping on ‘Build Number’ seven times. Once done, head over to Settings -> Developer Options -> Root Access and select the ‘Apps only’ option from the list to enable root access on CyanogenMod 12.

Enable advanced reboot options

The default Power menu in CyanogenMod comes with a ‘Reboot’ option that…well…reboots the device. However, the option to reboot the device into Recovery or Bootloader mode can be easily added to this menu by going into Settings -> Developer Option and enabling the ‘Advanced reboot’ option. Make sure to tap on ‘Ok’ when a pop up comes up confirming the action.

Automatically download updates

CyanogenMod rolls out daily builds of their ROM with new features, bug fixes and more. However, downloading and flashing a new nightly every day or even once in a while can be a chore for most users, which is why CyanogenMod has included their own update center in the ROM.

Heading over to Settings -> About Phone -> CyanogenMod updates will provide users with the option to download the latest nightly, specify how regularly the phone should check for updates and more. Once specified, the phone will automatically download the latest nightly (or stable build — depending on the user’s preference) that can be easily installed by simply tapping the ‘Reboot & Install’ button from the notification bar.

Skip tracks using volume keys

CyanogenMod comes with a handy Volume wake option that allows users to wake up the device from sleep by pressing the volume button. However, it is even possible for avid music listeners to long press the volume button to skip the currently playing track on their device. The feature works even when the device is sleeping, which makes it even more handy.

You can enable ‘Playback control’ from Settings -> Buttons.

Change the DPI

An Android device with a 5-inch 1080p display and another Android device with a 5.5-inch 1080p display will display exactly the same content, even though the latter has a slightly bigger screen. By changing the screen density, users will be able to display more content on the screen of their device without increasing the actual resolution of the screen.

While third party apps do exist that allow users to modify the DPI of their Android device, CyanogenMod has baked this feature right in their ROM. Switching to a lower DPI will decrease the amount of content displayed on the screen, while switching to a higher DPI will increase the content visible on the screen.

‘LCD Density’ is located in Settings -> Display & Lights.

What are your top 10 tips and tricks for CyanogenMod 12? Drop in a comment and let us know!