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

Like everyone else, I install a lot of apps after installing a new Android phone. Some of them are essential tools like Bitwarden and Ente Auth, while others are productivity apps that I can’t live without.

However, it does not end there. I also use several utility apps that are among the first apps on my phone. On Pixel phones, it’s the Essentials app that unlocks many new features. For all the other Android phones I test, I can’t live without Action Notch — a free Android app that helps me get the most out of my phone.

Almost all Android phones these days have a camera cut-out – also known as a notch – on the screen for the front-facing camera. The Action Notch turns this notch into a virtual button, allowing you to interact with it using touch or touch gestures to efficiently perform various everyday activities. For example, you can set Action Notch so that tapping your phone’s notch once takes a screenshot.

However, this is not all. Action Notch supports multiple gestures like double-tap and long-tap, so you’re not limited to just one gesture. Likewise, there are over 50 supported actions to choose from, from something as simple as turning on a light to something a little more advanced like running an automated task created in Tasker or MacroDroid.

You can unlock even more gestures and actions by upgrading to the pro version of Action Notch. It also gives you access to a really useful feature called rule-based actions, which allow the same action to behave differently in different scenarios. For example, a single tap gesture can take a screenshot in one app and toggle the light in another.

I’ve been using Action Notch for years and have explored several use cases over time. My current Action Notch setup includes three gestures: One tap, Double tapand Long press — all of which are available in the free version of the app. Here’s how I configured them:

One tap: I use an iPhone even though my primary phone is Android. As a result, I miss out on a few iPhone features when using an Android phone, and vice versa. One such feature is the ability to scroll to the top of the page by tapping the top of the screen. Action Notch gives you access to similar functionality on any Android phone thanks to the Swipe Up gesture. I have set up a single tap gesture for this action. So, whatever app I’m using, I just tap the notch on my phone to go to the top of the page.

Double tap: Like Scroll Up, Action Notch has another scrolling action called Scroll Down. As the name suggests, this action automatically takes you to the bottom of the page. I adjusted the Double Tap gesture to “Move Down”. That way, I can easily navigate long conversations in chat apps, find relevant comments or posts on forums or apps like Reddit, or scroll to the bottom of single-page websites to find footer and navigation buttons.

Long press: I take tons of screenshots on my phone every day. The usual technique is like finger gymnastics by pressing the power and volume keys together. To avoid this, I set Action Notch’s Long Touch gesture to the Screenshot action. It allows me to take a screenshot by long-pressing my phone’s notch or camera notch. Considering I need to take multiple screenshots, this makes my job a lot easier.

In addition to these three activities, I have a few favorites that I have used in the past. In-App Shortcuts is one such activity that provides a set of app shortcuts for quick access. My favorites include Drive Scanner, Song Search (in the Google app), and WhatsApp Chat. Another Action Notch feature that I find really useful is Run Automation. I’ve used it to run some of my MacroDroid automations that don’t have an auto trigger.

Action Notch requires a one-time setup and it’s very simple. First, download and install Action Notch from here Play Store. Then open the app and follow the on-screen instructions to grant it the requested permissions.

You will now see a list of all available gestures. Let’s say you want to configure a Single Touch gesture to toggle a light. tap on One tapscroll down to Device controls section and select Turn the light on/off in the overlay map. Follow the same steps to configure other gestures.

Once installed, the Action Notch app will run in the background, listening for configured gestures. As soon as it detects a gesture, it triggers the associated action.

In addition to configuring gestures, you can also customize the behavior of the Action Notch. For example, it is set to work in a slot by default, but you can configure it to use the entire status bar instead. Likewise, customize the position of the notch on the screen, as well as enable/disable haptics, disable battery optimization, and more. there are options. Action Notch settings can be accessed by tapping the button slider icon in the upper right corner and select Parameters.

I always add Turn off during a call and Disable on lock screen options. Both are very self-explanatory and help avoid accidental triggers. I also like to configure the blacklist feature, which blocks Action Notch within specified apps to prevent it from listening for configured gestures and launch actions. I blacklist the games I play as well as apps like the Kindle that have top bar menus so I can use them comfortably without having to worry about triggering any of my configured gestures.

Action Notch app makes it easy to perform various daily activities on my Android phone. While this isn’t the only app that turns your phone’s notch into a virtual button, I like it for two reasons. First, its free plan offers access to three actions, and second, it supports many useful actions.

However, the Action Notch isn’t perfect either; the free version of the app has ads in the user interface. Now, there’s no denying that ads help cover the operating costs of free apps. But lately, the frequency of full-screen ads in Action Notch has gone through the roof, making it difficult to navigate the interface and configure idle gestures.

But despite these complaints, Action Notch remains one of my most used Android apps. It’s one of those apps that I can’t live without, and if you don’t already have it on your Android phone, it’s time to change.