A huge toolbox for your Android smartphone

Jack Wallen takes a look at All-In-One-Toolbox, a free app that offers a one-stop-shop for your Android optimizations.

I've never been a big fan of all-in-one solutions. However, every once in a while, a tool like this will cross my desk and catch my attention, such as All-In-One Toolbox. This particular application offers 27 different tools for your Android smartphone, and it does so without the usual cumbersome or intrusive style of most other, similar tools. All-In-One Toolbox focuses on system cleaning and optimization, and it does a good job with both.

Features

Here are some of the tools you'll find in All-In-One Toolbox:

• Apk Cleaner
• Backup and restore
• Memory status report (RAM, ROM, SD Card memory and CPU)
• One-click task killer
• Cache, history, call log, and messages cleaner
• SD card file manager
• Batch installer/uninstaller
• Startup manager
• Various plugins (Timer, AppLock, Flashlight, Compass)
• QR and barcode scanner
• Uninstall of preinstalled system app feature
• Zip and unzip

If you're looking for a one-stop-shop for your Android optimizations, this app is exactly what you need. Let's install All-In-One Toolbox and take a grand tour to see if it's worth your time.

Installation

Installing this free app is simple. Just follow these steps:

1. Open the Google Play Store on your Android device
2. Search for “all in one toolbox” (no quotes)
3. Tap the entry for “All-In-One Toolbox (27 Tools)”
4. Tap Install
5. Tap Accept

Once it's installed, you'll find the launcher for the app in the app drawer and/or on the home screen. Tap the launcher to start the app.

Usage

There are so many tools included with All In One that it's hard to know where to begin. With that in mind, let's start with what would most likely bring the quickest optimization to your device -- the cleaning tools. From the tools tab (Figure A), tap on the System Cleaner button to reveal all of the included cleaners, and then follow the steps below.

Figure A

All-In-One Toolbox running on a Verizon-branded Motorola Moto X.

1. Tap on the Cache Cleaner
2. Allow the cleaner to calculate the amount to be cleaned
3. Tap the Clean button (Figure B)

Figure B

Cleaning the cache is a single tap away.

Due to the nature of certain apps, you'll find the cache of the device can begin to re-populate very quickly, even without interaction.

How well does this work? I ran the Cache Cleaner on two devices: a fresh Motorola Moto X and my personal Samsung Galaxy S III that hadn't been cleaned for quite some time. The Cache Cleaner found 464 MB that could be cleaned from my phone. After running the cleaner, the performance improvement was quite noticeable.

Next, go back to the System Cleaner and do the same for the History. In this section, you can clean numerous history caches, including:

• Clipboard
• Gmail
• Google Map
• Market
• Browser(s)
• Downloads
• Quick Search

You can de-select some of the entries (Figure C) in order to retain certain information. To do this, just tap any entry with an associated check box, and then tap Clean.

Figure C

You don't have to clean your entire history.

Another very handy feature is the QuickBoost option. This will quickly kill background apps to free up memory. Before you use this, however, I highly recommend whitelisting important apps before tapping the QuickBoost button.

To whitelist an app, follow these steps:

1. Open All-In-One Toolbox
2. Tap the gear icon in the upper right corner of the main window
3. Tap Whitelist Manager
4. Go through the listing and tap any application you want added to the whitelist (items with a minus sign [-] are added and items with a plus sign [+] are not, as shown in Figure D)
5. Tap Save when complete

Figure D

Adding apps to the QuickBoost whitelist.

In the same vein as the whitelist manager, you can add/remove applications from the start up process. By removing applications, you can shorten the start up time of your phone. To remove apps from this process, do the following:

1. Open All-In-One Toolbox
2. Scroll the left pane until you see Startup Manager and tap that icon
3. Tap Boot Speedup
4. Tap the User tab
5. Tap the minus sign [-] to disable an app at bootup (Figure E)

Figure E

Disabling apps for the bootup process is simple.

You can also remove applications from the System, but you should only do this if you know for certain that an application can be prevented from starting at bootup (you don't want to cause your phone not to boot).

If you're looking for a single tool to help you get the most performance out of your Android smartphone, you can't go wrong with All-In-One Toolbox. At first blush, it may seem too good to be true, but the reality is that this tool (and all its functions) does a great job of keeping your device in optimum working order.