<\/a><\/p>\n Related<\/p>\n \t\t It’s a brilliant example of how to make a minimalist launcher fun<\/p>\n I just wanted to make nice gestures<\/p>\n I can now show them on my phone every day<\/p>\n Gesture navigation replaces Android’s three-button bar with edge swipes.<\/p>\n You’ll swipe up from the bottom to go home, swipe up and hold for recent apps, and swipe in from either side to go back.<\/p>\n Its main benefit depends on preference, though freeing up screen space is a major one. I learned of gestures beyond those three in Android’s accessibility suite.<\/p>\n Beyond TalkBack and others, this navigation has proven useful for anyone who wants to reach any function without multiple steps.<\/p>\n I frequently use the music gesture on my Infinix phone, where I’ll swipe left or right on the lock screen to control music playback.<\/p>\n Google Pixel once offered this capability through radar-based gesture controls, exclusively on the Pixel 4, using Soli technology.<\/p>\n You used a wave over your phone instead of interacting with it directly.<\/p>\n Every OEM builds its own version, and you can add to it with apps from the Google Play Store. Searching for the feature’s expansion is what led me to Glyf.<\/p>\n Glyf meets my thumbs halfway<\/p>\n Swipes translate to meaningful hero graphics saving the day<\/p>\n True to its name, Glyf evokes the act of creating meaning through individual visual marks, where one symbol translates to what would otherwise be a sentence.<\/p>\n It lets me draw on my phone’s display and choose what to trigger. The app’s interface splits into four tabs.<\/p>\n The Flows menu features are locked behind a paywall, but I can access Apps, Actions, and Webpage for free.<\/p>\n Adding a new gesture lets me assign it to launching an app, bundling several under one gesture, firing off an Android action, or opening a website.<\/p>\n Drawing my glyphs wasn’t as seamless as I expected, but I got used to it. I thought it would work straight from the lock screen, but it doesn’t.<\/p>\n You can only draw them through the persistent notification feature or home screen widgets, both of which require the screen to be on and unlocked.<\/p>\n The former appears as a permanent notification, and you’ll tap it to open the drawing pad. The latter lets you tap a circular or rounded widget to activate it.<\/p>\n They don’t leave much space to draw, compared with the resizable widget option.<\/p>\n Unfortunately, two of the faster triggers, quick settings tile and floating bubble, are locked alongside it in the Pro tier.<\/p>\n I skip all those methods and lean on Smart Action Notch instead. It’s a workaround the Glyf app recommends.<\/p>\n My phone’s notch finally has a purpose<\/p>\n I tapped into its untapped potential<\/p>\n Smart Action Notch is a separate app that turns the camera cutout into its own touch zone. You’ll get five gestures for free, and you can integrate it with Glyf.<\/p>\n I set the single-tap and long-press functions to open the Glyf drawing overlay, while the double-tap action goes back.<\/p>\n Left swipe is for notifications, and right swipe is for the notch menu.<\/p>\n Unfortunately, Glyf still limits you to two gestures for Apps, Actions, and Webpages, which is fine.<\/p>\n Under Apps, I’ve set a gesture for Feedly where I catch up with daily tech news.<\/p>\n The other free slot is for stacked apps I use when I’m out: YouTube Music, Google Maps, Access More, Bolt, and Uber.<\/p>\n Under Actions, I set both slots to dial the two contacts I call most. When I tap my notch, it summons the overlay, and I draw my sign.<\/p>\n Then it shows all five apps, and I pick whichever one I need.<\/p>\n If you want more out of the tool, Glyf offers a one-time payment for premium features.<\/p>\n They include unlimited gestures, multi-stroke support, instant app launch, full offline privacy, complex flows, every trigger and style unlocked, and ad removal.<\/p>\n You can try them first with a six-hour free trial.<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n Related<\/p>\n
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\n\t\t\tComfer Launcher’s hidden gestures ended my search for a Pixel Launcher replacement
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