Sometimes, you just want to launch the Android camera to snap a moment or turn on the flashlight as soon as possible. In situations like these, our best bet is to interact with your device’s hardware buttons as unlocking and launching apps traditionally takes longer than simply pressing hardware buttons on the device.
Re-imagine your Android | shutter
While some developers offer the option to configure additional features for hardware buttons such as pressing and holding the back button to close apps or volume buttons to change music or turn on the flashlight, most developers do not. Most devices lack this feature. In the past, rooting your phone was the only way to get these features on your device. But now, thanks to the amazing developer Aaron Segaert, you can now use the feature on Android devices running Android Lollipop and above without root access.
Remapping hardware keys on Android
The name of the app is Button Mapper and it just came out in the Play Store. It is still in Beta and you will have to join the beta testing community before you can download the app. But if you don’t want to go through all that hassle, you can click this link and download the APK file to your Android device. However, if this is your first time manually installing an app on your Android, please read our guide on doing the same.
After you install the app and launch it for the first time, you’ll be asked to grant the app accessibility settings permission. These permissions are required if you want the application to change the behavior of the hardware keys without root access. Once that’s done, depending on the device you’re using, you’ll see keys that you can rearrange using the Button Mapper.
Devices with soft navigation keys will only show volume buttons as hard keys, but devices like Samsung and ASUS with hard navigation keys will show them all. Now you just have to tap the respective buttons you want to remap and choose what happens when the button is pressed for a longer time. Also choose what happens for dual press events.
Note: Some buttons like back and recent will require purchasing the pro version, but you can check the app’s compatibility and features with the back button and then decide to buy the paid version for only $1.49.
Added functions
There are a lot of functions that you can assign to button press events like turning on the flashlight, taking a screenshot, or even changing the track. There is also an option to change the default behavior of the buttons on a single press, but I would recommend keeping that as default unless you swap the behavior of the back and near keys This. Well, speaking of which, the app gives you the option to do it directly without purchasing the pro version on the home screen.
Note: In any case, if you specify functions that you don’t want and mess it up completely, there will be a one-touch reset button in the settings.
There is also a usability feature where you can press the home button while on the lock screen to simply turn off the screen. But only use this feature if you don’t have a fingerprint sensor on the home button, otherwise your device will be unlocked.
Watch our video for the same
Conclusion
So that’s how you can use Button Mapper app to remap Android hardware keys without root access. Now I understand the fact that most of the features require you to buy the pro version, but it’s cheap when compared to the options the app provides. Also, learning from the history of ES File Explorer and App2SD apps that used to be free, I have to say that paying for features keeps the developer going.
ALSO SEE: Control music playback with hardware buttons on Android
Categories: How to
Source: thpttranhungdao.edu.vn/en/
