Seven Time-Saving Android Shortcuts

When it comes to getting things done on mobile, you can never be fast enough. There have been so many changes to the core of Android over the years, though, that you may have missed a few ways that you can do things faster or more efficiently right now. 1.Reply to Phone Calls with Canned Messages 2.Jump to App Info by Dragging Icons to the Home Screen 3.Call, Text, or Navigate to Your Contacts' Address by Tapping Their Photo 4.Add Contact, Bookmark, or Directions Widgets for Common Tasks 5.Use the Android Keyboard as a Text Expander 6.Use Pronouns and "Ok, Google" in Voice Search 7.Find the App You're Looking For With the Intitle: Operator

1.Reply to Phone Calls with Canned Messages

This is one of those features that we all know exists, but many of us forget because we don't tend to explore the UI when we're receiving a phone call. However, most Android phones have the ability to send a ready-made text message to the person calling you when you can't talk. In stock Android, you can do this by swiping up when you receive a call, instead of to the left or right. Then you just pick any one of the pre-made messages and your phone will automatically reply with that message to the person calling.

2.Jump to App Info by Dragging Icons to the Home Screen

This is another trick that is easiest on stock Android. If you need to jump to an application's settings, go to your app drawer, drag the icon to the home screen and you should see "App Info" appear at the top. Drag the icon to that and release. This will jump straight to that app's entry in the Settings app. Some skinned versions of Android don't support this, but many custom launchers do. If your phone doesn't support it and you want a launcher that does, Nova launcher is our pick.

3.Call, Text, or Navigate to Your Contacts' Address by Tapping Their Photo

This feature is so old that many Android users may never have known it was hiding there all along. In many apps within Android—including the dialer, contacts, Gmail, Messaging and more, you'll see a small arrow in the corner of the contact's picture. This means you can tap their photo and quickly jump to all the different ways you can contact them. If you have address info stored, you can even easily open up Google Navigation to their house. This is one of those features that rewards those that keep their contacts in order, so if yours are a mess, it may be beneficial to do some spring cleaning and join all those duplicate entries.

4.Add Contact, Bookmark, or Directions Widgets for Common Tasks

If you want to take the last tip one step further, you can add contact widgets to your home screen. The 1x1 contact widgets can also be added into a folder, so you can reach all of your favorite people via any medium with just a couple taps. You can also create icon-sized widgets for bookmarks, frequent navigation queries, Google Drive files, Dropbox folders, Gmail labels, settings submenus, and plenty more. If you're an old Android veteran, you might know this feature better as "shortcuts". Some phones still label it as such and hide them under different categories, but in general Google seems to be steering the language away from "shortcuts" and just lumping them all together as widgets.

5.Use the Android Keyboard as a Text Expander

Text expansion isn't just the domain of the desktop. In Android, you can create shortcuts in the custom dictionary that function like text expanders. This can work for everything from turning "wi" into "widgets" or "@@" into your email address. There are a few places where autocomplete is disabled and the shortcuts won't work, but in most cases, you can make short work of long phrases.

6.Use Pronouns and "Ok, Google" in Voice Search

This one is fairly new so you'll be forgiven for not realizing it was there. However, Google has begun rolling out some improvements to search on Android. For starters, you've always been able to trigger voice search in Google Now with the "Ok, Google" hot word. Now, that works even when you're looking at search results. So, let's say you want to know who's playing second fiddle to Clark Gregg in that new Marvel show. "Ok, Google. Who plays in Agents of SHIELD?" Google will reply with a scrollable list of actors. Now you're curious when you can watch it. "Ok, Google. When does it come on?" Google knows from your previous search that "it" refers to the show "Agents of SHIELD" and will search for what you're looking for. Being able to continue using voice actions without touching the phone is an added bonus.