5 Moto G Stylus 2025 Settings I’d Change Immediately

I’m a long-time fan of Motorola’s midrange phones. The company offers some of the best value on the market, and I’m always excited when a new Moto G Stylus arrives. So far, I’ve been loving this year’s edition, as Moto kept the same quality and performance while improving in a few areas. If you want a quality smartphone, but don’t like paying flagship prices, the Moto G Stylus should be towards the top of your list again this year.

However, as much as I enjoy Moto’s phones, they aren’t perfect out of the box. There are still a few things to look out for and some tweaks to make to get the most out of your new phone. These are the 5 settings I’d change immediately on the Moto G Stylus 2025.

Related

5 Bloatware isn’t as bad

You still need to be careful

Thankfully, Motorola toned down the bloatware on the Moto G Stylus 2025. I’m no longer being assaulted by random ghost folders on my phone, which encourage me to download various games and programs. I have nothing against people who want to play Monopoly, but I’d rather Moto gave me the choice to go to the Play Store and download it myself. While I’m glad Motorola removed the bloatware folders from this year’s phone, it hasn’t completely cleared up its less-than-subtle suggestions to load certain apps.

You must pay attention during initial setup, because if you click through, you’ll wind up with a host of apps you don’t want on your new Motorola. Unfortunately, Moto has every suggestion clicked for installation by default, so you’ll need to uncheck it before moving forward with the setup to ensure you don’t approve the installation. While it’s less annoying than the bloatware the company used to install, it’s still beneath Motorola to suggest apps during setup, especially since the apps are marked for installation by default.

4 Motorola needs to work on its lockscreen

Take a minute to set yours up

The Moto G Stylus has too many settings for the lock screen. Having a true always-on display would make things easier, but Moto seems to be allergic to the idea. Even still, it’s a good idea to go into settings and change them to your liking. I always turn on lift-to-show and move-to-show so any lifting or shifting of the G Stylus will show me my lock screen. You’ll also need to go into settings and ensure that the sleep display is turned on, allowing you to view lock screen information by lifting the device.

I avoid turning on Motorola’s Smart Lock screen. It becomes a cluttered mess on my display, and I can’t count how many times I’ve accidentally launched whatever news story it was showing. You can add media controls and switch which apps you want displayed, but the entire process isn’t as intuitive as I’d like. It’s a bit of a chore, but it’s worth it to get the lock screen the way you want it on your Moto G Stylus 2025.

3 Sign up for an account

Unlock premium Moto AI features

Unfortunately, you need to sign up for a Motorola account to unlock Moto AI premium features, such as Sketch to Image. I completely understand if you’re not interested, but to get the most out of your new G Stylus, you’ll need to sign up. I’m still not thrilled by the idea, but I’m pleased that the premium features aren’t behind a paywall. Signing up for an account gave me the access I needed, even though it added an extra step.

Thankfully, it only takes a few moments to sign up. When you reach a locked Moto AI feature, you’ll be prompted to sign up for a Moto or Lenovo ID. You can sign up with a Google account, which streamlines the process. Even if you sign up with your name and email, the process only takes a couple of minutes, and then you’ll be able to draw all the AI cats you could possibly want with your Moto G Stylus.

2 Change some stylus options

You’ll be happy you did

As the name suggests, one of the main highlights of the Moto G Stylus is the stylus, but you’ll want to change some settings to get the most from the pen experience. First, you’ll want to turn on the last known location for the stylus. The phone will keep track of your exact location when you remove the pen from the silo, so if later in the day you realize you’ve lost it, you’ll have a record of the last time you removed it. There’s no GPS located inside the pen, so you won’t be able to track it down like an Apple AirTag, but it’s helpful to get an idea of where you were when it first went missing.

Even though I’ve enjoyed playing with Sketch to Image, I still use GIF Maker with my stylus more often. The GIF Maker used to show up by default with the other stylus apps when you removed the pen from your Moto G Stylus, but it has been removed in favor of Sketch to Image. Thankfully, that’s easily reversed by going into the settings menu that appears when you remove the pen and selecting which apps you want to show by default. You may still like Sketch to Image, but it’s a great way to personalize the stylus menu, especially since I’m sure not that many use the Handwriting Calculator often.

1 Charge your G Stylus faster

The 68W wired charging on the Moto G Stylus is fantastic to have, but you might not always want to use those speeds, especially if you’re concerned about battery health. If you typically charge your phone overnight, then you don’t need to change any settings. You should even enable optimized charging and overcharge protection to ensure your battery lasts well for years. I haven’t seen many problems with modern batteries, even on OnePlus devices with superfast speeds. However, you should still be careful if you plan to keep your new Moto for 4 or 5 years.

If you’re looking for a quick top-off during the day, you’ll want to turn on Charge Boost. It’ll unlock the fastest charging speeds on your G Stylus, even though Moto warns you may notice some heating in your device while it’s running. You may not want to use it daily, but I like having the option in a pinch when I need to get a few more hours out of my G Stylus and I don’t have much time for charging.

An excellent phone with a few tweaks

I’m pleased with my Moto G Stylus 2025. It’s held up well in testing, and Motorola’s made some welcome improvements to the design and display. If you take a few minutes to personalize your device, you’ll enjoy the user experience even more. If you’re in the market for a midrange device and tired of the same old options from Google and Samsung, the Moto G Stylus 2025 is a fantastic breath of fresh air.

Motorola Moto G Stylus (2025)

Motorola’s new Moto G Stylus looks to keep the great design from its predecessor and match it with some more modern specs. Whether that’s enough to shy buyers away from the best of Samsung and Google, however, remains to be seen.