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I turned my Android phone’s camera notch into a powerful shortcut — and I can’t go back

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Why This Matters

A free third-party Android app, Action Notch, converts the front camera cutout into a tappable virtual button, showing how much unused interaction surface modern phones have. It's a reminder that power-user utilities can add features OEMs haven't shipped, echoing how Apple productized the notch area with Dynamic Island.

Key Takeaways
Worth a Look

Google Pixel 9 — The article's notch tricks and the Pixel Essentials app shine on Google's own hardware, and the Pixel 9 is the natural home for both. Its punch-hole front camera is exactly the kind of cutout Action Notch turns into a handy shortcut button, and Pixel's Android build gets updates first.

See Google Pixel 9 on Amazon → Affiliate link — we may earn a commission on purchases, at no extra cost to you. Product picked by AI based on this article; it is not a tested recommendation.

Yash Wate / Android Authority

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Like everyone else, I install a bunch of apps after setting up a new Android phone. Some of these are essentials like Bitwarden and Ente Auth, while others are productivity apps I can’t live without.

It doesn’t end there, though. I also use a few utility apps that are among the first apps to go on my phone. On Pixel phones, it’s the Essentials app, which unlocks a ton of new functionality. And 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’s notch.

What will you use Action Notch for? 27 votes Scroll to Top 33 % Scroll to Bottom 11 % Take Screenshot 41 % Toggle Flashlight 4 % Open Power Menu 7 % Something else (tell us in the comments) 4 %

Action Notch breathes life into a phone’s notch

Yash Wate / Android Authority

Almost all Android phones today feature a camera cutout — also called a notch — on the screen for a front-facing camera. Action Notch turns this notch into a virtual button, allowing you to interact with it using tap or swipe gestures to perform various everyday actions efficiently. For instance, you can set up Action Notch such that tapping your phone’s notch once takes a screenshot.

However, that’s not all. Action Notch supports multiple gestures, such as double-tap and long-tap, so you aren’t restricted to just one gesture. Similarly, there are over 50 supported actions to choose from, ranging from something as basic as toggling a flashlight to a slightly more advanced action like running an automated task you created in Tasker or MacroDroid.

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

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