Those of us who use our smartphone as a tool for study or work are constantly reviewing how we can optimize our use of it. android It is an operating system that offers us endless possibilities and has a very useful and simple feature, but which is still unknown to a large number of users. We are talking about shortcuts included in app icons.
Do you want to enter a WhatsApp chat without opening the app manually or upload a file to the cloud without going to Google Drive? Why not search for YouTube videos from the home screen of your mobile device? All this and more is possible with these shortcuts.
Of course, we are not talking about the ideal solution. Not all Android apps support this feature, but the main ones do. So, most likely, you will not have much inconvenience. simplify interaction with frequently used applicationsgaining time and working more efficiently with a mobile phone in hand.
How to access shortcuts in android apps?
As we mentioned from the very beginning, these shortcuts are “hidden” in app icons. Therefore, in order to access them, we just need to long press on the app icon and there we will find a list with different options. As you will see, these are shortcuts to specific features for each service or platform.
So, for example, WhatsApp will allow us to directly enter our chats – individual or group – with the most frequent or recent interaction. We can also directly access the camera to take a photo or video that we can send to a contact or use as a status.
In the meantime, Twitter will give them the option to create a new tweet, search for specific content on the social network, or take a photo. Spotify will display the three most recently played options; while Instagram will give us shortcuts for chats or new messages and also let us launch the camera directly from the home screen.
These are just some of the more common examples you can find among the shortcuts included in Android apps. Understandably, most are suggesting that the number of interactions with an app required to access its most popular features be reduced to the bare minimum.
Another interesting point is that they are displayed not only when the icons are pinned to the main screen of the phone. This means that applications are found only in the main menu or application bar Android apps will also show shortcuts when you press and hold icons.
You can pin shortcuts individually to the start screen.
Another very useful aspect offered by Android icon shortcuts is the ability to pin them individually to the home screen of the device. Thus, taking WhatsApp as an example, we can select one of the chats that appear in the quick access list and move it to home screen enter it with one touch.
To do this, we just have to click on the application icon to bring up the shortcuts and click on any of the options again to later drag it to the home screen and place it where we want. Bad news? This last option does not work on all devices that use Android, and its implementation depends on the integration that each manufacturer has provided to their level of customization.
However, Android app icon shortcuts are very useful and deserve to be used. anything that helps simplify and optimize our mobile phone or tablet experience, welcome.
Source: Hiper Textual
