Everybody in tech circles could also be goin' gaga over synthetic intelligence in the intervening time, however right here within the land o' Android, we have loads of different attention-grabbing stuff on the horizon.
Imagine it or not, Google's already onerous at work on the following grand Android model — the awkwardly gawky early-teen Android 14. And whereas it is nonetheless far too quickly to say precisely what the discharge will entail, one nugget from the newest Android 14 developer preview is fairly darn intriguing.
Particularly, the latest Android 14 preview introduces a nifty new set of choices round notifications — an space that is concurrently among the best and the worst components of any trendy cellular machine.
These new choices, although, goal to make 'em much more helpful by ensuring you by no means miss something vital. With the flick of a pair fast switches, you possibly can inform your cellphone to flash a custom-colored LED-like mild in your display screen anytime a brand new alert arrives — or, if you happen to actually wish to get fancy, have it flash your cellphone's back-facing digital camera mild to catch your consideration (and/or provide you with an impressively inexpensive solution to create an on-demand rave).
Both method may definitely be useful in the proper form of state of affairs. And here is the actually excellent news: You do not really even want Android 14 to make any of it occur.
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Actually, you possibly can create a good extra superior and customizable model of that very same form of notification magic on any Android machine this minute — if you recognize the place to look.
Your Android notification improve: The on-screen ingredient
We'll begin with the primary a part of the Android 14 notification improve — that fancy display screen flashing impact. This one's delightfully straightforward to attain, and it will convey a zesty new twist of notification, erm, notifying to your cellphone.
The important thing to creating it occur is a helpful little app known as AodNotify. It is one in every of my favourite Android-enhancing instruments and one thing I depend on consistently by myself private units.
The precise model of AodNotify you want will depend on what kind of cellphone you are utilizing:
- This model is for Pixel units
- This one is for Samsung telephones
- This one is for any OnePlus doodad
- And this one is a catch-all for many different Android fashions
When you get the proper model to your cellphone and get by means of the preliminary setup, you will be about 90 seconds away from having your display screen mild up in several methods for various notifications — and having the ability to relaxation straightforward understanding you will by no means miss an important incoming information.
And you have got some attention-grabbing decisions right here, too:
- You may have incoming notifications from sure apps create a hoop of sunshine across the digital camera cutout on the high of your display screen so you will all the time see 'em, even if you happen to do not hear the preliminary ding
- You may create a small LED-style dot on the high of your display screen for particular forms of alerts
- And you'll arrange an unmissable full-screen define mild in any shade and magnificence you prefer to affiliate with sure notifications
JRYou may customise all types of stuff about how your on-screen notification lights work, too. Three of my favourite choices are:
- The power to specify which particular apps will trigger a notification mild to seem. Not like Android 14's under-development equal, this lets you restrict which apps set off that eye-catching impact — so, as an illustration, you possibly can have it occur with one thing vital like Slack or Gmail however not with each different warn you get
- The power to increase previous apps and in addition give your self an on-screen notification mild for important system occasions like a dangerously low battery
- The power to pick out what shade is used to your on-screen notification lights. Your best option, if you happen to ask me, is to let AodNotify mechanically pull the first shade related to every app, as that makes it super-easy to know at a look what kind of alert is concerned
JRAodNotify is free with an non-obligatory $5 improve for a few of its extra superior options. The app does not require any permissions past what's wanted for its operation, and its developer (a well known and extensively trusted Android mainstay) says the software program does not gather, retailer, or share any method of person knowledge.
Cool? Cool. However do not tune out but. We have yet another possibility to think about, and it is a good'un.
The Android 14-esque digital camera flash alert
That first path is an ideal Android notification improve for most individuals — and it truly is an much more versatile and totally featured setup than what Google's obtained cookin' in Android 14 itself as of this second.
In the event you actually wish to ensure that vital alerts catch your eye, although, there's yet another alternative value chewing over. And it is one thing that additionally ties in intently to one of many new Android 14 notification options.
It is a Missed Name Reminder app that makes it as straightforward as might be have your cellphone's digital camera flash mild up for incoming notifications — and never simply these from missed calls, both, regardless of what its title implies. Better of all? Similar to our first instrument, this one options a number of choices and customization potential that make it meaningfully higher than Android 14's present native equal.
As soon as you have obtained the app put in, you will end up dealing with a listing of default profiles for when the digital camera flash ought to happen. (And a heads-up, by the best way: Relying on the place you look, the app is usually often known as Prof Reminder as a substitute of Missed Name Reminders. Hey, all of us have the occasional id disaster.)
JRFaucet any profile to edit it and get all of it arrange to your personal particular functions. And if you happen to aren't planning to make use of any of these default profiles, remember to faucet the three-dot menu icon inside it and choose the choice to disable it totally, lest it perform while you least anticipate it and catch your poor unprepared peepers unexpectedly.
You may create your personal new custom profile, too, which is the only solution to arrange a digital camera flash alert for notifications from particular high-priority apps.
Missed Name Reminder is free to make use of in its base kind, although among the extra superior choices — together with the flexibility to create custom digital camera flash alerts for notifications from totally different apps — require a one-time $3 improve to unlock.
And there ya have it. We should still be months away from Android 14's official arrival, however now, you possibly can have a style of one in every of its most attention-grabbing under-development options this second — and you may make your cellphone infinitely extra helpful consequently.
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