Motorola My UX guide: Everything you need to know

Editor’s note: This article is current as of December 2021. We will add / remove content as Motorola reveals more information about My UX.

As mentioned, My UX doesn’t deviate too much from the standard Android look and feel. Motorola puts its own stamp on things, but people who have used Pixel devices, Sony phones, or just enjoy the standard Android experience will find a lot to love here.

Overall, My UX is very easy to use. It is colorful, cozy and simple. Its simplicity also keeps it light and smooth. Everything has a nice sheen to it that makes it attractive to the widest possible audience. Considering that Motorola primarily makes mid-range devices, which could be used by children, adults, and the elderly alike, this makes perfect sense.

See also: What is Android?

Unfortunately, Motorola gets a bad rap when it comes to keeping its phones up to date. The company has been caught trying to pass a major Android update to even its most expensive phones, a stark contrast to Samsung and Google, which offer three updates for almost all of their phones. Motorola also does not release security patches in a timely manner for many of its devices.

Regardless, if updates aren’t very important to you, chances are you’re happy with My UX.

The latest version of My UX

As mentioned in the previous section, Motorola doesn’t do a great job of keeping its software up to date. Usually it takes months before your current phones see the latest version of Android. Even after a new version of Android is released, Motorola usually releases new phones with the old version.

As such, most of Motorola’s new phones are on Android 11 and many are still stuck on Android 10. As far as we know, there is no Android 12 beta program in action yet.

The first Motorola phone to launch with Android 12 will likely arrive in 2022. The first 2021 phone to see an Android 12 update will likely be the closest thing to a Motorola flagship released, which is the Motorola Edge (2021).

We have steps on how to check your version number in the next section.

How to check your version and updates using My UX

If you don’t know which version of My UX is on your Motorola device, you can easily check it.

1. Go to Android Settings Finding the shortcut in the app drawer or in the notification tone.
2. Scroll to the bottom of the list and touch the System updates section.
3. Now, touch Search for updates.
4. Assuming you are up to date, you will see your Current software version, which is your version of My UX.

If you are running an older version of My UX, an update may be waiting for you in this section. If there is, it will install in the background and then ask you to restart your phone. Depending on how late you are on updates, you may need to repeat these steps several times.

If your software is up to date but you don’t have the latest version of My UX, that means your phone hasn’t received the update yet. It is also possible that your phone is too old to receive new updates. Fortunately, Motorola has a website dedicated to providing you with the information you need on the latest versions of its software.

A brief history of My UX

Motorola basically pioneered the Android world with its line of Droid phones in the late 2000s and early 2010s. Motorola phones during that time came with an Android skin called Motoblur. This skin was not well received. It was bloated, ugly, and required you to create a Motoblur account before you could access the phone’s home screen.

Consumer response to Motoblur was so bad that Motorola stopped referring to the skin by that name in 2011. It still kept the design, but eventually removed the requirement to create a Motorola account before using the phone.

See also: A look at the main Android skins

Unbelievably, from 2011 to 2020, Motorola did not have an official name for its software skin. Most people still referred to it as Motoblur until April 2020, when the company officially announced My UX as the new name. This was launched alongside Motorola Edge and Edge Plus.

Between 2011 and 2020, Motorola subtly and slowly altered its Android skin to be closer to stock. At this point, My UX is almost as close to Android stock as Google’s Pixel UI, which says a lot when you look back at Motoblur.

How does my UX look like

Here’s a gallery of screenshots that should give you an idea of ​​what to expect from My UX.

Each Android skin puts its own stamp on the software. Here are some things that My UX can do that most other skins cannot.

Gestures

Suppose you want to activate the flashlight function of your phone. Most people would need to unlock their phone and then tap on an app to turn on the flashlight. However, Motorola users can simply do a slicing motion with their hand and the flashlight turns on. Two more chops and it’s off.

There are all kinds of gesture shortcuts like this available in My UX, including ways to quickly open the camera, take a screenshot, put the phone in Do Not Disturb mode, and more.

Attentive display

If you read a lot on your phone, you may face the screen dimming issue after a few minutes. To avoid this, you have to extend the time your screen stays on (which drains the battery) or repeatedly taps the screen every few minutes (which is annoying).

Attentive display solves this problem by keeping the screen on while looking at it. This requires a scan of your face, which some people may not be comfortable with, but it works quite well when you have it all set up.

Styles

Some people really value the ability to make their phone look the way they want it. Most of the time, this involves downloading a third-party launcher or other application. With My UX, you can make some basic changes right from the home screen. This includes changing the font, changing the accent color, setting the icon shapes, and more.

It’s not as robust as the theme options within Samsung’s One UI or Oppo’s Color OS, but it’s better than nothing.

The Moto app

With some Android skins, it can be difficult to find their unique features. Sometimes they are buried in Android settings and you cannot easily tell if they are part of Android or something else. With Motorola’s My UX, you get a Moto app that usefully adds all the best features in one place.

Basically the app exists as a shortcut to all the different functions, which frees you from the burden of having to search for them. This is incredibly helpful and we wish more companies did.