I’ve been utilizing Android for years, and but, now and again, I stumble throughout options that make me surprise: How did I survive with out this?
Small tweaks, gestures, and shortcuts can accumulate to avoid wasting you hours over the course of per week.
Over the previous few months, I’ve been making an attempt out each little time-saver Android presents. These are the instruments that I now use day by day, with out considering, and the distinction they make is staggering.
6 Android tweaks I made to chop litter from my telephone
A fast cleanup helped me use my telephone extra mindfully
Cut up-screen multitasking
Two apps, one display screen
Cut up-screen mode is a basic Android characteristic which will go unnoticed, but it surely’s a game-changer for productiveness.
Most days, I exploit a cut up display screen once I’m replying to somebody on WhatsApp or Google Messages and want to verify one thing in Hold, Gmail, or Drive. As a substitute of going forwards and backwards, I drag open the second app and look at no matter I want.
It’s additionally turn out to be one among my favourite methods to cope with bite-sized duties.
If I’m on a name, I’ll hold the dialer up prime and run my to-do listing on the backside to tick off follow-ups whereas I’m listening. After I’m studying lengthy articles, I’ll pin the Firefox browser on one facet and my notes app on the opposite, which is ideal for capturing concepts with out dropping the circulate.
And on days once I’m planning my week, having Calendar open subsequent to Maps helps me work out commute instances whereas scheduling conferences.
It’s additionally useful for evaluating costs, copying particulars between apps, or watching tutorials whereas doing duties in actual time.
To activate Cut up display screen, go to your Latest Apps view, faucet the three-dot menu icon on the prime, and select Cut up display screen. Now, choose the second app.
Cut up-screen multitasking not solely saves time but in addition reduces cognitive load by permitting me to focus on one workflow as an alternative of switching forwards and backwards.
Clipboard historical past
A multi-copy lifesaver
If you happen to’re like me, you copy and paste textual content, hyperlinks, and snippets throughout apps dozens of instances a day.
Android’s clipboard historical past maintains a listing of the whole lot you’ve copied, permitting you to entry a number of gadgets directly, together with current screenshots.
You possibly can allow it in Settings > System > Keyboard > Gboard > Clipboard. To entry it, use any app that takes textual content enter. Faucet the clipboard icon on Gboard, and also you’ll see your most not too long ago copied textual content or screenshots.
I now use it to juggle a number of URLs, textual content chunks, and addresses, with out switching between apps. I additionally pin a number of clippings that I typically use, so that they keep on the prime of the clipboard.
Placing on a regular basis duties on autopilot
Automation is an space the place Android excels in saving time. Apps like MacroDroid and Tasker enable triggers and actions that deal with repetitive duties for you.
My most often used automation is easy: After I join my Bluetooth headphones, MacroDroid robotically opens Spotify and adjusts the amount to my most popular stage. It seems like I’ve saved two or three faucets, however once you do it a number of instances a day, it provides up.
I additionally use a location-based macro that jogs my memory to test for grocery coupons as quickly as I step into the shop parking zone.
And whereas I don’t use a Samsung telephone, I’ll admit their Modes and Routines characteristic is without doubt one of the finest examples of the place Android automation shines. It permits you to create rule-based setups for work, sleep, journey, health, and extra.
Even with out Samsung’s model, Android’s native instruments mixed with MacroDroid create a surprisingly succesful automation setup.
Customized Fast Settings
Turning it right into a management heart
If there’s one Android characteristic that has saved me extra time than the rest, it’s the power to customise the Fast Settings panel.
By default, Fast Settings options tiles I by no means contact, reminiscent of screencast, NFC, and hotspot toggles. I take away those I don’t use and rebuild them across the actions I exploit a number of instances a day.
Now, one swipe presents prompt entry to Do Not Disturb, the flashlight, QR code scanner, and Google Pockets. I even added a tile that provides a brand new process within the TickTick app.
And since I exploit MacroDroid, I’ve a tile that triggers one among my routines: a Focus mode that dims the display screen, lowers quantity, and turns off notifications.
Gboard’s private dictionary
The key to lightning-fast typing
One of many Android options that saves me essentially the most time is Gboard’s private dictionary, particularly when paired with its shortcut characteristic.
The concept is easy: you create a customized phrase and assign it a brief set off textual content. Then, everytime you kind that shortcut, Gboard robotically expands it into the right phrase.
I exploit it day-after-day for issues I kind often however don’t need to re-enter manually. For instance, my house deal with is addr, and my e mail deal with is em.
It conserves psychological effort as a lot because it saves time, since I’m not rewriting the identical strains repeatedly throughout Gmail, Messages, Slack, or any app the place Gboard is energetic.
Setting it up is easy. You possibly can navigate to Settings > System settings > Keyboard and enter technique > Gboard > Dictionary > Private dictionary. Then kind your lengthy phrase and assign your shortcut textual content.
Whenever you kind the shortcut, Gboard immediately suggests the growth.
Gesture navigation
It makes navigation really feel easy
Gesture navigation may appear to be a minor improve over the basic three-button format, however after you study the hidden shortcuts inside the gesture system, it turns into one of many quickest methods to maneuver round your telephone.
Probably the most important time-saver for me is the quick-switch gesture: a easy swipe alongside the underside edge immediately jumps again to the final app I used to be utilizing.
If I’m responding to a message whereas checking one thing on the Firefox browser, or swapping between Maps and Spotify on the go, this tiny swipe means I’m not always dragging open the Latest Apps view.
Moreover, the app overview swipe permits me to rapidly entry the multitasking display screen by swiping up slowly. This manner, I can simply clear apps or return to one thing I used to be utilizing earlier.
Entry the digicam from the lock display screen
By no means miss a shot
The lock-screen digicam shortcut persistently saves me treasured seconds. I swipe the digicam icon on the lock display screen to rapidly seize images with out digging by dwelling screens or fumbling to search out the proper app.
I’ve captured fast moments, like my cat diving head-first right into a laundry basket, an ideal dawn on my balcony, and even a humorous signal whereas touring, all as a result of I didn’t lose time unlocking my telephone and searching for the digicam icon.
On most Android telephones, the shortcut sits in a nook of the lock display screen. Some gadgets require a double-press of the facility button, whereas others make the most of a protracted press or a swipe gesture.
For anybody making an attempt to avoid wasting time or be extra current, this shortcut is a nifty repair. You don’t waste time navigating your telephone; you get the shot and transfer on together with your day.
The small Android tweaks that made a giant distinction
Reclaiming time isn’t nearly downloading new apps or reinventing your workflow; typically, it’s about lastly noticing the totally different settings in your telephone.
Options reminiscent of gesture shortcuts, an improved clipboard, and automation instruments may also help you full duties extra rapidly.
