How I turned my Android phone’s camera notch into a powerful shortcut

Like everybody else, I set up a bunch of apps after establishing a brand new Android cellphone. A few of these are necessities like Bitwarden and Ente Auth, whereas others are productiveness apps I can’t stay with out.

It doesn’t finish there, although. I additionally use just a few utility apps which are among the many first apps to go on my cellphone. On Pixel telephones, it’s the Necessities app, which unlocks a ton of recent performance. And for all the opposite Android telephones I take a look at, I can’t stay with out Motion Notch — a free Android app that helps me get probably the most out of my cellphone’s notch.

Virtually all Android telephones at present function a digital camera cutout — additionally referred to as a notch — on the display screen for a front-facing digital camera. Motion Notch turns this notch right into a digital button, permitting you to work together with it utilizing faucet or swipe gestures to carry out numerous on a regular basis actions effectively. For example, you possibly can arrange Motion Notch such that tapping your cellphone’s notch as soon as takes a screenshot.

Nonetheless, that’s not all. Motion Notch helps a number of gestures, comparable to double-tap and long-tap, so that you aren’t restricted to only one gesture. Equally, there are over 50 supported actions to select from, starting from one thing as fundamental as toggling a flashlight to a barely extra superior motion like working an automatic activity you created in Tasker or MacroDroid.

You possibly can unlock much more gestures and actions by upgrading to the professional model of Motion Notch. This additionally provides you entry to a very helpful function referred to as rule-based actions, which helps you to make a single gesture behave otherwise in numerous eventualities. For instance, you can also make the single-tap gesture take a screenshot in a single app and toggle the flashlight elsewhere.

I’ve been utilizing Motion Notch for a few years and have explored a number of use circumstances over time. My present Motion Notch setup entails three gestures: Single Contact, Double Contact, and Lengthy Contact — all of which can be found on the free model of the app. Right here’s how I’ve configured them:

Single Contact: Though my main cellphone is an Android, I additionally use an iPhone. Consequently, I miss just a few iPhone options once I’m utilizing an Android cellphone, and vice versa. One such function is the power to scroll to the highest of a web page by tapping the highest of the display screen. The Motion Notch app lets me obtain comparable performance on any Android cellphone, because of the Scroll to Prime gesture. I’ve arrange the Single Contact gesture for this motion. This fashion, regardless of which app I’m utilizing, I can faucet my cellphone’s notch to go to the highest of the web page.

Double Contact: Similar to Scroll to Prime, Motion Notch has one other scroll motion referred to as Scroll to Backside. Because the identify suggests, this motion routinely takes you to the underside of the web page. I’ve arrange the Double Contact gesture to Scroll to Backside. This fashion, I can simply navigate lengthy conversations in chat apps, discover related feedback or messages in boards or apps like Reddit, or scroll to the underside of single-page web sites to seek out the footer and navigation buttons.

Lengthy Contact: I take a number of screenshots on my cellphone daily. And the everyday option to do it, which entails urgent the facility and quantity keys collectively, appears like finger gymnastics. To keep away from this, I arrange the Motion Notch’s Lengthy Contact gesture to the Take Screenshot motion. This permits me to take a screenshot by merely long-tapping on my cellphone’s notch or digital camera cutout. And provided that I must take a number of screenshots, it makes my job a lot simpler.

In addition to these three actions, I’ve just a few different favorites that I’ve used prior to now. In-App Shortcuts is one such motion that gives a bunch of app shortcuts for fast entry. A few of my favorites embody Drive scan, Tune Search (within the Google app), and WhatsApp Chat. One other Motion Notch function I discover actually helpful is Run Automation. I’ve used it to run a few of my MacroDroid automations that don’t have an automated set off.

Motion Notch requires a one-time setup, and it’s fairly easy. First, obtain and set up the Motion Notch app from the Play Retailer. Then, open the app and comply with the on-screen directions to grant it the requested permissions.

You’ll now see a listing of all of the out there gestures. Let’s say you need to configure the Single Contact gesture to toggle a flashlight. Faucet Single Contact, scroll right down to the System Controls part, and choose Toggle Flashlight on the overlay card. Comply with the identical steps to configure different gestures.

As soon as arrange, the Motion Notch app runs within the background, listening for the configured gestures. As quickly because it identifies a gesture, it triggers the related motion.

Along with configuring gestures, you possibly can customise Motion Notch’s habits. For example, it’s set to work on the notch by default, however you possibly can configure it to make use of your entire standing bar as an alternative. Likewise, there’s an choice to customise the notch place on the display screen, in addition to allow/disable haptics, flip off battery optimization, and extra. You possibly can entry Motion Notch settings by tapping the slider icon within the top-right nook and choosing Settings.

I at all times allow the Disable on Name and Disable on Lock Display screen choices. Each are fairly self-explanatory and assist keep away from unintended triggers. I additionally prefer to configure the blacklist function, which primarily blocks Motion Notch inside specified apps to stop it from listening for configured gestures and triggering actions. I blacklist the video games I play, in addition to apps like Kindle that function top-bar menus, so I can use them comfortably with out worrying about triggering any of my configured gestures.

The Motion Notch app simplifies performing numerous on a regular basis actions on my Android cellphone. And whereas it isn’t the one app that turns a cellphone’s notch right into a digital button, I prefer it for 2 causes. First, its free plan provides entry to 3 gestures, and second, it helps loads of helpful actions.

Nonetheless, Motion Notch isn’t excellent, both; the free model of the app has advertisements throughout the UI. Now, there’s no denying that advertisements assist cowl operational prices without spending a dime apps. However these days the frequency of full-screen advertisements on Motion Notch has gone via the roof, making each navigating the interface and configuring the free gestures tougher.

However even with these complaints, Motion Notch stays considered one of my most-used Android apps. It’s a type of apps I actually can’t stay with out, and if it’s not in your Android cellphone but, now’s the time to alter that.