Well that all is about to change. The list below is information for you which you can use to put your dock to best work. Yes, we know. The dock is extremely personal, but believe us going through this list will open new ways for you to revolutionize the way you use your dock, and make you a fan of this highly functional and extremely fashionable feature of your Android.
App Drawer
Now, we know that Pixel tweaked a number of things in the conventional home screens, but the most important change which happened was removal of app drawer button. Yes, instead of a button, now you can gesture your device to open app drawer. In place of a button you can use of gesture to free up the space of your dock. You can know all about the gesture and its way to set up through the Pixel theme. You can even add a slight white bar over your dock and navigation bar based on your preference and the wallpaper you are using courtesy Pixel.
Dock Size & Pages
You can pick up your dock size the way you want. Big, small, busy, simple – whatever works for you. Docks can be big, and they can be small. The trick is figuring out which size works or you. Once you add slots to your dock, the functionality will increase. Its is fully dependent on the launcher of your android. Usually these can support up to five or more icons. However if you switch to a tablet from your phone, you would obviously have more options.
Another important thing is dock pages for you to check out. These pages are fun and handy. As you add on more icons to your dock, the sizes of the icons go down. This can be solved by adding pages to your dock. It would work almost the way your home screen does when you can swipe back and forth to explore more. Good thing being using dock pages gives you space to use upto twice or thrice the original number of icons.
Folders & Gestures
Yes, you read that right. On your home screen you can create folder in your dock. This will clear your space up for you to put Widgets and/or apps. Also, having folders means your Android is more sorted than before. No fumbling searching for the files you needed for office anymore. You can make one folder and squeeze as many apps into it, giving way to simpler access and functionality.
While using Action Launcher, you will find that these folders seem simple app shortcuts. Given that they also act like one in a tap, it is good knowing that you can also swipe them to open and reveal folder of useful apps. In Nova, another launcher, the normal apps in your dock as well as your home screen can also be swiped to open and You can hide apps from each other or even you can also specialised short cuts. So let’s say you have “phone” on your dock, then you can just swipe up to instantly call your friend, or your partner or your family. Yes, it sounds great, and you can try it too.
In Android 7.1 Nougat, also you will get App Shortcuts. This means swiping up and/or long-press, whatever your launcher has, on supported apps shall lead to a small list of direct action shortcuts. That means on using Google’s phone app, you can have access to three direct dial Shortcuts.
Themes
Are you one of those people who do not give attention to theming docks? Well, that might be about to change. If you are interested in having a uniform and clean dock, read on. Given that, lots of pages and folders shall indeed make your dock look untidy, you have to use the theming option available to make them look symmetric and representative of you. Now, you have to believe that the theming a dock is simple, and stylish. It can give your home screen the necessary oomph that you want it to have, or it can be toned down to keep your information safe from prying hands and eyes.
First of all, remember to make your dock look even. And by even, what we mean is whatever works best. If you find keeping three icons on one, and three on another, in case you have six icons, well go ahead with that. Also, when you are choosing the icons to represent in your dock, try and choose one icon to represent the whole folder. Whether the app icons are big or small you will need to have consistency. Remember that you don’t have to make your dock look boring for it to be uniform and consistent. Just choose a custom app drawer icon, full of spunk, suiting your chosen theme and you would be good to go.
You can always use custom dock icons tactically to make your device a little safer. All you need to do is choose a random icon for your important apps like your email app, or your photo gallery, or your banking app. Now you can choose a random customised icon and camouflage these important apps thus. People eyeing your device would never know what exactly hides behind these customized icons, which would seen to them random apps. The most important thing to remember while following on this tip is that you should at least remember what hides behind what.
Now, we have given you enough tips and tricks to make your docks more fun and functional. Now it is totally up to you if you want to increase the space on your dock by adding more pages or use a custom app drawer icon to ensure no one ever finds out what they are snooping for. Whatever it might be, just personalise your dock and make it look like yours. Let us know how your dock looks like and which of the above tips helped you make your dock more useful in the comments below.
