How to Force ‘4G Only’ on your Android Phone

There’s times when you want the best of internet speeds on your device, and if you’re in an area where the signal isn’t very strong, your connection keeps shifting between 4G, 3G and 2G. (This could be both because of the area connection, or because your phone receiver is just bad). Either way, forcing 4G only has proved to be good for me in such situations.

Nowadays phones don’t have the ability to force just one Mode built in to the UI. In the past with some devices, you would find these different modes available under settings. But Android allows much power, and you can fix this issue through free apps or tricks.

‘4G Only’ Apps:

There’s many 4G only apps on Play Store. Many have ads though. And given that this is a setting baked in to Android, there’s no need to get one which has ads. My favourite app is 4G LTE Switcher (no ads). True to it’s name, it has no ads. Check it out.

This app has worked for me on TECNO, Infinix, and Samsung phones. Meaning it should work with most phones with Mediatek and Exynos processors.

With some phones though, you may get an incompatibility error. So try the next options below:

Dialing*#*#4636#*#* or *#36446337#:

This has worked on some of my devices that I believe must all have had a Snapdragon processor. I used to dial *#36446337# on my OnePlus to access Engineering Mode.

In both modes you should access Networks and set a Preffered Mode from the menu to LTE only (or whichever mode your prefer at that time).

For Huawei Phones:

I guess this is a solution for Huawei’s with the Kirin Processor. Or just generally most Huawei phones. Check out the original post that helped me with this for my P30 Lite.

Huawei EMUI 8 and Below:

1. Open Play Store
2. Search for Settings Database Editor
3. Install it on the phone.
4. Open and you will see
   • System
   • Secure
   • Global
5. Go to System. Scroll to find hw_networkmode_preference. You will see something like this — “9,6,2,1”. Tap on it
6. Add a comma (,) followed by eleven (11) and tap on Save changes. Your new setting will look like this:
   •  “9,6,2,1,11“
7. Tap + Add new setting at the top.
8. Key in hw_add_4g_only.
9. Tap Save.
10. In Edit setting, key in your country code – e.g. 254 for Kenya.
11. Tap Save changes.
12. Close Settings Database Editor app
13. Restart your phone.
14. Once restarted, go to Setting –> More –> Mobile Network –> Preferred network mode, you will see LTE only option.

Huawei EMUI 9:

1. Open Play Store
2. Search for Settings Database Editor
3. Install it on the phone.
4. Open and you will see
   • System
   • Secure
   • Global
5. Go to System. Scroll to find hw_networkmode_preference. You will see something like this — “9,6,2,1”. Tap on it
6. Instead of adding 11 (eleven) to the list like in EMUI 8 procedure above, all you need to do is delete all and only put 11.Your new setting will look like this:
   • Before: “9,6,2,1”
   • After: “11“

If you have other workarounds for getting 4G only, kindly list them down below in the comment section.

Remember though, if your phone, or network provider doesn’t support VoLTE, forcing 4G only will mean not being able to make or receive phone calls. So only use the mode when you don’t want to make or receive phone calls.