Where to find settings within apps?

[BeadKnit]

I upgraded to a new phone and jumped from Jelly Bean to Oreo. Now I'm having trouble with something that used to be on my old Android and haven't found where it is in Oreo.

When I'd go into an app on my old phone, I could look at an app's settings with the lower right menu button, which has now been replaced by, as far as I can tell, a pretty useless "recent apps" button. (I switched my "back" button to the way it was with Jelly Bean, on the left, for less confusion, so the right menu button is that dumb "recent apps" button.)

Now when I'm in an app, not only do my menu buttons completely disappear, regardless of the fact that the phone is (allegedly) set to keep the menu buttons on screen for all apps, when I can finally find a way to bring them up, there's no "settings" button to use. So settings on individual apps are completely closed to me.

Where are app settings? For instance, one of my apps is an ePub reader. I can't find any way to change the display - brightness, background, font, etc, which I used to do with exactly the same app under Jelly Bean. That was with that lower right hand menu button. But all that does now is show recent apps.

Also, how do I keep menu buttons on the screen at all times within apps? I found an option in settings (which I can't find again) that's SUPPOSED to keep the menu buttons on the screen in all apps, but in every single app I use, menu buttons disappear. In some apps I'm having to navigate out by using a help option that then makes the menu buttons appear. But this does not EXIT the app. It merely allows me to use the menu button to temporarily leave the app, and that's extremely unhelpful.

Thank you in advance.

 

[hallux]

As you noticed, there have been some significant changes to Android since Jellybean.

Menus have moved from the capacitive buttons to the top of the screen - look for the "hamburger" in the top left or the 3 vertical dots in the top right, today are the menus now. The "hamburger" menu can often be accessed by swiping in from the left of the screen.

As for the buttons disappearing, this is "immersive mode" and you can get the buttons by swiping up from the bottom or down from the top.

 

[ManiacJoe]

As for the buttons disappearing, this is "immersive mode" and you can get the buttons by swiping up from the bottom or down from the top.

After swiping up to get the button bar back, on the left of the button bar should be a toggle switch that should "lock" the bar to keep it at the bottom of the screen. This lock seems to work 90% of the time.

 

[Rukbat]

And the "useless" recents button is useful. If, say, you have a password app and you want to switch between the password app and the app that needs the password. Or any 2 apps, really (ever use Google Authentication for a bank app?) Long-press it and you'll get split-screen. If you just tap it, you can get back to that "what was I running before?" app.

 

[BeadKnit]

Thanks so much, everyone!

Okay, I finally found a way to make the ePub app less than full screen, so then I can swipe from the bottom of the screen and see the menu buttons. But there is no "hamburger" or three dots. I'll give you a screenshot:

As you can (hopefully) see, the bottom buttons are all I get, which is where the settings used to be. I get nothing at all at the top.

Swiping from the bottom doesn't work in most apps. It only works in the ePub reader (and only from bottom up - top down changes the page) because I set it not to use full screen. Some apps won't work with anything less than full screen. So those won't allow buttons at all and I have to find creative ways of getting out of the apps, usually by using a button for a "help" mode. It's not supposed to be done that way...but it works. And some apps I've had to uninstall because there's no exit or menu button and swiping from top, bottom, pressing down on the screen...nothing at all worked. A few times I had to turn the phone off to get out of an app. That's impractical, so better to uninstall the app than keep turning the phone off!

As for the ePub reader, if I assume there is a hidden "hamburger" or three vertical dots, by pressing on the upper left or upper right of the screen, I still don't get a "settings" option. On the left, it turns the page back. On the right, it brings up a bookmark option. That's it. Still no settings anywhere.

Rukbat, thank you for the explanation! That said, no, I don't use password apps and definitely don't do any banking on my phone (I'm weird!). So the "recent apps" choice can't help me as much as access to settings would.

Thanks again in advance, everyone!

 

[hallux]

Looking at the screenshots of the app on the Play Store, I think I see what you mean about the menu, compared to yours. That might be something worth sending a note to the app support folks about. Include your screenshot from above and note the missing menu strip in the app.